ST. LOUIS _ A game that ignited early with what one manager apparently said turned later on what one manager could only do.
Without a second lefty in the bullpen, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny leaned heavily on his right-handed relievers, including Dominic Leone, to navigate a tie game through the eighth inning. A left-handed hitter, who does worse against left-handed pitchers, connected for the home run that flipped the game and cost the Cardinals what would have been a better story, or at least a more dramatic one.
David Peralta, the former Cardinals' farmhand, tagged Leone for a two-run homer in the eighth inning to push Arizona to a 4-1 victory at Busch Stadium.
That homer washed away a strong start by Luke Weaver and gave the game a new twist after Yadier Molina had dominated its first seven innings. Molina and Arizona manager Torey Lovullo got in an argument at home plate after Lovullo had stormed out of the dugout to complain about a called strike on A.J. Pollock. During his rant against the ump, Lovullo said something that caught Molina's attention.
Molina charged Lovullo, separated only by the ump and his manager.
The benches cleared. The bullpens did, too.
In the rubble of the fracas, only Lovullo was ejected, and he had been ejected the moment he raced on the field to protect Pollock.
Three innings later, Molina created the Cardinals' only run. He singled. He took second on a deep fly ball to left field and beat the tag in from the outfield. That put him in scoring position for Kolten Wong's single to left field. Molina never slowed around third and was able to get home ahead of the throw as well. That run stood as the lead until the seventh inning.
Luke Weaver raced through the Diamondbacks' lineup in the first three innings, holding Arizona without a baserunner.
He was removed in the seventh inning after Pollock, who was the nexus of so much of the game, singled with one out. At the time, Weaver had thrown 97 pitches and allowed three hits against seven strikeouts. He threw 6 1/3 innings, and only once did the Diamondbacks gets a runner into scoring position against him.
It took two batters for Arizona to do it after Weaver left.
Tyler Lyons struck out his assignment _ Daniel Descalso _ and then the most-used right-handers in the bullpen got involved. Matt Bowman walked the first batter he faced, and he allowed an RBI single to the second. That was the only run that Weaver allowed in the game _ and it came three batters after he had walked to the dugout.
The save blown, Bowman got out of the inning with a groundball to keep the score knotted at 1.
That came apart in the eighth.
Leone, that other oft-used right-hander, did not retire either of the batters he faced. The right-handed batter got a single. The left-handed hitter got the home run. That was enough for the Cardinals to finally call on Mike Mayers for his first appearance since the opener against the Mets. Mayers retired the first two batters he faced before Pollock _ him again _ lifted a solo homer into the Arizona bullpen for the Snakes' fourth run.
