ST. LOUIS _ The Cardinals couldn't muster anything against Toronto starter Mat Latos, but Matt Carpenter came up clutch against the bullpen to give St. Louis an 8-4 walk-off win in Thursday's doubleheader opener. After Kolten Wong led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a triple and the Blue Jays intentionally walked the bases loaded, Carpenter hit a grand slam to right field to score the winning runs.
"In that whole at-bat I was looking for that pitch," Carpenter said. "I just didn't think in that scenario that I was going to get a fastball to hit. He got ahead of me with the fastball, but I stayed with my approach, continued to battle, got it to an even count and he finally threw it where I was looking for it."
Thursday's win was the first time the Cardinals walked off with a grand slam since Eric Miles did so on July 20, 2008 against San Diego.
Latos held the Cardinals at bay to the tune of no runs and three hits in his six innings of work. When the Cardinals did have their early chances, they ran themselves out of them with sloppy baserunning. Wong was picked off second base by catcher Russell Martin after a leadoff double and Yadier Molina was stranded at third base early on.
In the late innings, however, St. Louis slowly crept back into the game. After Latos left, the Cardinals got one run each in the seventh and eighth innings thanks to timely hits from Randal Grichuk and Carpenter.
"The guys just kept playing the game and didn't let anything keep them down," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "It's great to see from our club right now, to push late, get back in it, hold onto to it and then take it with the big at-bat by Carp, it was a great win for us."
Then in the ninth, Grichuk came up again with two outs in the ninth and Molina standing on second. Three pitches later, Grichuk cranked a 412-foot home run to left-center field to send the game to extras.
Grichuk now owns a six-game hitting streak after starting off the season slowly.
"I think I made some strides in Milwaukee as far as seeing the ball better," Grichuk said. "I'm mechanically sound with my swing and set up, but I've still got a ways to go, hopefully it'll keep going in the right direction."
After reliever Seung-Hwan Oh retired the Blue Jays in order in the top of the 10th, the Cardinals had a chance to win the game when they came to bat. Left fielder Jose Martinez came to bat with the bases loaded and two outs, but flew out to the right-field warning track.
Toronto again didn't put together any rally in the top of the 11th, and then the Cardinals won it in the bottom of the frame thanks to Carpenter.
Carlos Martinez started the game for the Cardinals and pitched mostly well, giving up just a solo home run to Martin in the second inning through five. However, Martinez gave up two runs in the sixth after walking three in the frame to load the bases.
"This time around I really felt like I had a little bit more command," Martinez said through a translator. "I made it a point to be working off my fastball and to have more control, which is kind of my signature pitch and I wanted to have control over that."
Martinez finished the afternoon with six innings pitched, giving up the three runs on five hits while walking three and striking out eight.
The Cardinals' bullpen, which began the season in a rough patch, gave up just one run in a combined five innings.
