MILWAUKEE _ Having used Seung Hwan Oh three days in a row and not having either Trevor Rosenthal or Kevin Siegrist available, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was hopeful of extracting as many innings as he could from starter Carlos Martinez on Saturday.
Martinez gave him just five innings although as he fanned 11, giving up one run on four hits and four walks in a 103-pitch outing as the Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1, at Miller Park.
Into the breach stepped, first, left-hander Tyler Lyons, who fanned four in 21/3 scoreless innings.
When Lyons walked two men in a row with one out in the eighth, rookie Matt Bowman was summoned, only to encounter pinch hitter Jonathan Lucroy, the Brewers' lone All-Star. Bowman, fast emerging as a late-inning weapon, induced Lucroy to ground into a double play started by shortstop Aledmys Diaz and stalked off the field pounding his fist into his glove in excitement as he had preserved a 3-1 lead.
A late momentum switch had begun.
After Tommy Pham homered in the ninth off former Cardinal Michael Blazek and then Aledmys Diaz cracked a three-run drive off Blazek, who had walked the two interim hitters, the Cardinals had a 7-1 bulge, which jumped to the final 8-1 on a two-out single by Albert Rosario, who was hitting for the first time in the major leagues after spending 11{ seasons in the minors.
"It didn't feel like an 8-1 game," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.
"Carlos had electric stuff, but worked into deep counts. He had a lot of strikeouts but it was another one of those reinforcement starts for him. The kind of pitcher he wants to be is the guy that's standing out there in the eighth, not maxed out in his pinch count in the fifth."
Martinez, who hadn't gained a victory in his last four starts despite allowing just four runs, fanned every batter in the Milwaukee starting lineup at least once as he raised his record to 8-6.
"He was throwing bullets up there. He was throwing 99 (miles an hour) and hard sliders. But he was working deep counts almost every batter. And then he decided to get a little more efficient and putting more movement on it and you were seeing first-pitch outs."
When Martinez walked off the field and into the clubhouse after finishing five innings, he asked Matheny what he thought and Matheny said he turned the question onto Martinez. Matheny said the 24-year-old right-hander responded that he was "trying to do too much early. When I started pitching, I started getting outs."
"He was good, though," said Matheny. "The story, really, was Tyler Lyons _ and Matt Bowman coming in."
