ST. LOUIS — As losses go, it seemed relatively painless.
After losing 9-8 to the Cardinals on a walk-off walk Thursday night, the Rockies lost quickly and decisively Friday night, getting shut out 7-0.
But with defeat came more bad news for a Rockies team sliding toward another 90-loss season.
Starter Kyle Kendrick, who was shut down after one inning of work Friday, will undergo an MRI on his right shoulder on Monday. There are fears he could have a torn rotator cuff.
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And after the game, manager Walt Weiss confirmed that left fielder Corey Dickerson has broken ribs on his right side and will have to go on the disabled list for the third time this season.
The powerhouse Cardinals (66-37), owners of the best record in the majors, got a command performance from starter Michael Wacha and home runs from Matt Carpenter and Jhonny Peralta. They outhit the Rockies 14-6, as Colorado suffered its 18th loss in its last 23 road games.
Colorado was no match for Wacha and his superb ability to mix pitches. He tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk while fanning seven. Carlos Gonzalez’s first-inning double was the only extra-base hit off Wacha, who improved to 12-4.
“He’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Weiss said. “He’s got a really good fastball and a really good changeup. He has a good angle to his fastball, and the ball really gets on you.”
Kendrick fell to 4-12 and his ERA climbed to 6.43. With his fastball velocity reduced to 83 mph, the Cardinals teed off on him for two runs in the first. Carpenter led off with a 434-foot homer to dead center and Jason Heyward delivered a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. Carpenter’s home run was the 26th of the season given up by Kendrick, most in the majors.
“I’ll have an MRI on Monday, and hopefully that goes OK and we’ll move forward,” he said. “Tonight I didn’t feel good at all. It’s been very difficult to pitch through the pain.”
Kendrick, who said he’s been dealing with varying degrees of shoulder pain for two months, said he’ll have to wait and see what the future brings.
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“We have to see what the MRI shows, but the doctor said it could be my rotator cuff,” he said.
Corey Dickerson back on DL
Dickerson is now going on back on the 15-day disabled list. He left Thursday night’s game with what the team initially called bruised ribs suffered after diving for a line drive in the outfield.
“This is heartbreaking,” said Dickerson, who is hitting .315 even though he was on the DL twice before because of plantar fasciitis in his left foot. “I was really looking forward to this season and thought I was playing well. So this really (stinks). You want to be out there with your teammates, even if you aren’t winning ballgames.”
Dickerson has been limited to just 43 games this season.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or
