ST. LOUIS_Friday was the last time that Carlos Martinez pitches this season, then it was entirely representative as he throttled the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-0 at Busch Stadium. Martinez, of course, still hopes to be twirling somewhere on Wednesday in the National League wild-card game.
After his fifth consecutive loss on May 25 dropped his record to 4-5, Martinez finished off his regular season with his 12th victory in his final 16 decisions and his 16th win of the season as the Cardinals lived another day in the wild, wonderful world of would-be wild cards.
This was the ninth consecutive start in which Martinez had given up two or fewer earned runs, meaning that over his last 77 1/3 innings, he has allowed only 51 hits and 15 earned runs for an ERA of 1.75.
In this one, which was stopped by rain for 47 minutes in the eighth inning, he allowed only five hits and a walk and struck out nine over seven innings before he came out for pinch hitter Matt Holliday.
While Martinez's outing was a window into his season, Holliday's appearance epitomized his career, which is winding down here.
Holliday, whose $17 million club option for 2017 will not be picked up, according to Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak before the game, got a long, loud standing ovation when he came to the plate. Then Holliday, who came off the disabled list earlier in the day, gave the Busch crowd something more by which to remember him when, on an 0-2 pitch from lefthander Zach Phillips, he lined his 20th homer over the right-field fence.
Holliday's homer was the 295th of his career but his first homer and run batted in as a pinch hitter. It gave the Cardinals six players at 20 or more homers, tying the National League record set by the Atlanta Braves in 1965 and equaled by the Atlanta Braves in 2003 and the Washington Nationals earlier Friday night. It was the sixth time Holliday had 20 or homers in his seven full seasons as a Cardinals, missing only last year when he was waylaid by quadriceps injuries.
It earned Holliday a warm group hug outside the Cardinals dugout, involving catcher Yadier Molina and pitcher Adam Wainwright, Cardinals veterans who have been teammates of Holliday since he arrived here in 2009 and who were the first to greet him after the homer. And it merited another standing ovation and a curtain call.
Holliday had been out since he suffered a fractured right thumb when he was hit by a pitch from Chicago Cubs lefthander Mike Montgomery on Aug. 11.
The Cardinals, who had just one hit and one run through five innings against Pittsburgh righthander Tyler Glasgow, erupted with a four-run sixth inning Friday night, featuring a two-run homer by Brandon Moss, who had been an almost unbelievable seven for his last 98.
An error by first baseman John Jaso preceded run-scoring doubles by Yadier Molina and Stephen Piscotty. Moss' liner to right off reliever Trevor Williams for his 28th homer bumped the lead to 5-0 as Carlos Martinez headed for his 16th victory.
Earlier, Martinez retired 13 men in succession after allowing two singles to lead off the Pittsburgh second Friday night.
In that time, the ball left the infield only once as Martinez struck out six hitters and got another five on groundouts. He had entered the game as the league co-leader in ground-ball percentage with teammate Jaime Garcia at 57.9.
The Cardinals continued to hold a 1-0 lead into the home sixth. In the Pirates' sixth, Martinez, after issuing his first walk to Gregory Polanco and allowing a single to Andrew McCutchen, struck out Jung Ho Kang on a slider and retired John Jaso on a grounder to first.
