St. Louis – On Tuesday, at a steamy, red-splashed Busch Stadium, the St. Louis Cardinals’ offense finally peeked out above the bags under its eyes.
St. Louis fans have been thirsting for their lineup to produce, to prove the past six weeks were nothing more than an annoying aberration. Off to their worst start since 1973, snuggled in last place in the National League Central, the world champion Cardinals awoke against a spotty Rockies bullpen.
By allowing three men to reach base in the seventh inning, reliever Denny Bautista threatened Taylor Buchholz’s outing. In one pitch, rookie Alberto Arias spoiled it, stung by Scott Spiezio’s two-run double in the Cardinals’ 4-1 victory.
“I was trying to get a groundball with my sinker, get a double play,” said Arias, asked to douse a one-out, bases-loaded fire. “I got a groundball. It didn’t work out.”
It marked the first time in 10 games the Cardinals scored more than three runs. The rally came together quickly after the departure of Buchholz, the author of six scoreless innings and in line for the win after Matt Holliday’s third-inning home run.
Bautista, heretofore a reliable part of a bullpen that has undergone an extreme makeover, went haywire. With one out, he surrendered back-to-back singles to Jim Edmonds and Yadier Molina. Then Bautista smoked David Eckstein with a fastball off his biceps.
That left Arias with no margin for error and little chance of escaping. Spiezio belted the 91- mph fastball into right field, depriving the Rockies of their first back-to-back road series wins since last June and July against the Los Angeles Angels and the Seattle Mariners.
“I wasn’t trying to figure out what he might throw. I am not smart enough for that,” Spiezio said. “I was looking for a pitch in a zone. Hitting is contagious, so hopefully this gets us going.”
While Spiezio talked of an influential victory, Bautista sat at his locker down the hall, staring straight ahead. He pointed the finger at himself, not Arias, for causing the four-run inning to unravel.
“They trust me in that situation,” said Bautista, who added he had been pitching well, and “now this. I will keep working to get better.”
Buchholz certainly improved. In a performance that saved his rotation spot, the right-hander showed promise that has long made him a tantalizing prospect. Relying exclusively on his four-seam fastball for the first time since the Arizona Fall League nearly three years ago, Buchholz muzzled the Cardinals.
It was in stark contrast to his previous 10.80 ERA as a starter, which is why manager Clint Hurdle has been dropping hints like bread crumbs that Buchholz could be shifted back to the bullpen without improvement, especially with Ubaldo Jimenez doing well in Triple-A.
“I wasn’t thinking about whether I was pitching to keep my job,” Buchholz said. “But I know if you don’t pitch well up here, you don’t stick around.”
Buchholz was a victim of poor support as the Rockies scored just one run off spot starter Brad Thompson in five innings. That it was Holliday was no surprise, because he’s hitting .483 (14-for-29) with five home runs in eight games at new Busch Stadium.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
