Thursday, April 4, 2013

HBT: D-backs top Cardinals in 16-inning marathon

No one told Josh Collmenter and Mitchell Boggs that it?s too early in the season for games to be lasting past 3 a.m.

It took nearly 5 1/2 hours, but the Diamondbacks edged the Cardinals 10-9 in 16 innings Wednesday to claim two out of three in the opening series in Arizona. Cliff Pennington singled in Jason Kubel against a fatigued Fernando Salas to end it.

Salas was working into a third inning for just the third time in his career. The winning pitcher for Arizona, Josh Collmenter, pitched five innings out of the pen.

The Cardinals were ahead four times in the game, but never could make a lead stick. They were up 4-1 in the fifth, 7-5 in the sixth, 8-7 in the eighth and 9-8 in the 12th. Trevor Rosenthal and Mitchell Boggs both took blown saves for the club. Boggs, who is acting closer with Jason Motte sidelined, blew his chance in the 12th.

Gerardo Parra, Martin Prado, Paul Goldschmidt and Pennington all had three hits apiece for the Diamondbacks. Parra, Martin Prado and Goldschmidt homered.

The Cardinals got a scare in the contest when Allen Craig, making his first outfield start of the year, injured a knee in a wall collision in right, but he was able to stay in. He finished the game back at first base.

Daniel Descalso had four hits for the Cardinals.

While the offense was very good, the obvious key for the Diamondbacks tonight was that they were never forced to turn to Heath Bell out of the pen. Collmenter was able to go five innings after throwing as many as four in a game this spring. Bell would have followed him to the mound, but the Diamondbacks wanted to stay away from him after he gave up two homers, retired just one of the six batters he faced and ruined a perfectly good relationship on Tuesday.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/04/diamondbacks-top-cardinals-in-16-inning-marathon/related/

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