DENVER _ Whether the Colorado Rockies were looking to burrow under Carlos Martinez's skin or just leave a bruise there, the Cardinals starter showed he's not the same as he was the last time they faced him.
Harboring an apparent grudge, the Rockies hit Martinez.
Martinez hit back.
In addition to five grueling but sturdy innings, Martinez had the two-run double that snapped a tie game and lifted the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory Monday night at Coors Field. The win continued to the Cardinals' advancement on the wild-card leaders, the Mets and Giants. With the Mets' loss in Atlanta, the Cardinals moved a half game back of the wild-card leaders, and the Giants had yet to play Monday night against their division rival, the Dodgers. One game could separate the three teams by morning.
The Cardinals relievers made the win possible by holding the Rockies scoreless through their four innings of work. The Rockies got the tying run on base in the ninth after Ryan Raburn's pinch-hit homer. Kevin Siegrist walked Carlos Gonzalez and had to face Nolan Arenado as the potential winning run.
Arenado lined out to left field to end the game.
Any lead at Coors Field can be fleeting, and the Cardinals showed why as they jumped to their first of the game. Randal Grichuk slugged his 23rd home run of the season to answer the Rockies' first run. Grichuk would homer in the third inning and reach base on an error in the fourth to then score on Martinez's RBI double. The hit was his first extra-base shot of the season, and it upped his RBI total from four to six, adding to a career high. What he did on the mound offered the more significant career high.
Martinez (15-8) got his career-best 15th win and he did so by surpassing his previous high in innings. Martinez pitched five innings and upped his season total to 182 1/3 innings, three better than last year's. By almost every measure, this season has been a stride forward for Martinez _ a stride toward the upper-echelon of pitchers.
And Monday revealed another example.
He didn't let the Rockies rattle him.
If there was purpose behind the pitch _ and definitely had that whiff _ the Colorado Rockies exacted a grudge against Martinez 12 months in the making in the third inning.
Martinez got the last grin.
Back in July 2015, the Cardinals' young starter went on tilt against the Rockies. He celebrated a double play by making an obscene gesture at the Rockies' dugout, and he drilled infield D.J. LeMahieu in the hip. The Rockies' second baseman had to be restrained, and the Rockies responded by hitting the Cardinals second baseman Kolten Wong with a pitch. That brought manager Mike Matheny into the mix. Colorado put the attention solely on Martinez, referring to his "inexperience" and his "emotions" as what set the tone.
After the game, LeMahieu did not mince words when asked about the intent of Martinez's pitch.
"It wasn't an accident," he said.
Then perhaps neither was the pitch that hit Martinez in the third inning Monday. The Rockies had not had a crack at Martinez since that outing, and in the third inning, moments after Grichuk's homer, lefty Tyler Anderson fired low and inside on Martinez. Anderson epitomized the trouble this series represented for the Cardinals because as the Rockies have faded from the wild-card chase and .500 they have still played well, especially lately. Anderson entered Monday 5-1 at home with a 3.04 ERA in 11 starts at Coors Field. He hasn't had issues with pitches getting away from him. In the 71 innings he's thrown at Coors, he has only two wild pitches.
Anderson's inside pitch got the Cardinals' right-hander hopping _ but not quick enough. The pitch pegged his left calf, and it left him on the ground for a good stretch. He was able to continue and even answer the Rockies' painful retort.
He didn't do it with a pitch.
He did it at the plate.
In the fourth inning, with the score tied at 2, Martinez turned on a pitch from Anderson and skipped it down the third-base line. The ball found the corner, and Jedd Gyorko and Grichuk were able to score on the play to break the tie. Martinez scored from second when Matt Carpenter laced a single to right field. That put the Cardinals ahead, 5-2.
As the inning ended, Martinez sat on the bench, a mask pressed to his face and receiving oxygen. He would do that between innings, and there was an inning when he was late to report for his warmups because he was getting treatment in the dugout. The Cardinals took a trainer to the mound in the fourth inning to meet with Martinez, and they brought water out to the right-hander. He remained in the game and allowed a double and a walk, but mixed in three groundballs to keep the Rockies from generating a threat.
The Rockies' lineup Martinez faced did not have a batter hitting less than .293 in the first five hitters, and that hitter was Nolan Arenado, one of the game's leading sluggers and all-around players. Three of the Rockies' first five batters had averages better than .300. Their ability to generate offense was obvious as Martinez also searched for his control in the first inning. LeMahieu drew a walk, and Carlos Gonzalez followed with another walk. Two of Martinez's three walks would come in that first inning, and LeMahieu's would result in a run when David Dahl lifted an RBI single.
It took Martinez 35 pitches to get through the first inning, not too far from the Cardinals "stress" limit for an inning. The Cardinals have a pitch limit for individual innings in the minors, and with young pitchers like Martinez they have employed it in the majors, especially when he's pitching at altitude.
It was the same group in the third inning that rallied the Rockies to tie the game, 2-2. LeMahieu again reached base. He singled up the middle, nearly ricocheting the ball of Martinez. The Cardinals' right-hander threw wildly toward home with LeMahieu at first base, and that put the infielder in position to score from second on Arenado's RBI single.
