St. Louis Cardinals, scrapping for NL wild card, take on Rockies

St. Louis was facing a missed opportunity and a tough loss Friday night. The Cardinals' fortunes changed with one swing and they gained ground in the National League wild-card race.

Ivan Herrera's three-run homer in the ninth inning gave St. Louis a 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies. The Cardinals can make it two in a row when the teams meet again Saturday night in Denver.

St. Louis (71-71) sends lefty Matthew Liberatore (5-13, 5.41 ERA) to the mound against Colorado rookie Mason Adams (0-0, 3.00) in the second of the three-game series.

The Cardinals moved into a tie with Miami and gained a game on Arizona, both of which lost Friday night. The Diamondbacks are a half-game out of the third and final wild-card berth.

Liberatore is aiming for his first win in the second half of the season. His last victory was against the Atlanta Braves on July 11; he is 0-7 in his last eight starts.

He finished August 0-5 with a 5.91 ERA in six outings, but in two of those starts he fanned nine batters, including his last one in a loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday. He has faced the Rockies six times in his career -- two of them starts -- and is 0-2 with 6.39 ERA.

Liberatore could benefit from the offensive production the Cardinals showed in taking two of three from the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier in the week. They scored 21 runs in the first two games, their highest production in two weeks.

"I feel like it just goes to show how capable we are, and just how resilient this team is," St. Louis shortstop Thomas Saggese said. "We can play with anybody, and that's obviously a good sign. A lot of positives to take."

Colorado (54-87) is looking for positives in another tough season, and Adams is one of those bright spots. The 26-year-old right-hander was acquired from the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 3 and made his major league debut Aug. 25 at Washington.

He allowed one run in four innings in the win over the Nationals but didn't stick around to get the victory. He tossed five solid innings in a 10-inning loss at Atlanta on Saturday.

Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer was impressed with Adams in his first two starts.

"The poise that he shows on the mound, that's not normal for a young guy to come up and do that," Schaeffer said. "His first two starts, especially on the road in hostile environments, have been very impressive.

"He's shown the ability to make in-game adjustments already, which is impressive. Obviously, the physical stuff has been really good, too. His ability to spin the ball has been good as well as his ability to throw his heater where he wants to."

Colorado will need strong pitching to avoid a fourth straight 100-loss season. The Rockies have shown improvement, surpassing last season's 43 wins on Aug. 1, and they need to finish 9-12 to break the string of triple-digit losses.

--Field Level Media