ST. LOUIS (AP) Chad Bettis made his first appearance at Busch Stadium a memorable one.
Bettis did not allow a hit until the fifth inning, took a shutout into the seventh and also drove in a run to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.
Nolan Arrenado and Dustin Garneau had RBI singles, and Bettis added a run-scoring grounder as the Rockies got their season-high fifth straight win and won for only the fifth time in 22 games at Busch Stadium since 2010.
Bettis (4-2) didn’t give up a hit until Jeremy Hazelbaker beat out an infield single leading off the fifth. He allowed only two base runners in scoring position until tiring in the seventh, gave up five singles in 6 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out four.
“He was in control,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “An outstanding job. There were a lot of ground balls, a lot of poor swings.”
Bettis worked at least six innings for the eighth consecutive start and got 11 outs on ground balls.
“Every start I go out to keep the ball down and have them roll over to our infielders,” Bettis said. “We had some great plays. Everything went fantastic.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFww5JuN1yA
The Cardinals finally reached Bettis in the seventh when they scored on consecutive two-out singles by Almedys Diaz, Kolten Wong and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk.
Jake McGee allowed two Cardinals to reach in the ninth but struck out Jedd Gyorko to end the game and pick up his fifth save in the past six days and 13th of the season.
Jaime Garcia (3-3) allowed three runs and five singles with four walks in five innings for St. Louis. He fell to 0-4 in his career against Colorado.
“They have a really good lineup. They weren’t swinging at pitches close to the plate,” Garcia said. “I didn’t execute the pitches when I needed to.”
Arenado drove in Colorado’s first run with a two-out single in the third after Charlie Blackmon singled and stole second.
The Rockies added two in the fourth on a leadoff walk to Mark Reynolds, singles by DJ LeMahieu and Garneau and the fielder’s choice grounder by Bettis.
TOP PROSPECT NEARS RETURN
Hard-throwing RHP Alex Reyes, the Cardinals’ No. 1-rated prospect, is expected to make his season debut Sunday for Triple-A Memphis. Reyes’ fastball has been clocked at 101 mph in extended-spring training outings against minor-leaguers. Reyes has been serving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for marijuana last fall.
TRAINING ROOM
Rockies: RHP Jason Motte (shoulder) retired two of the five batters he faced against Round Rock in his third rehab outing for Triple-A Albuquerque. Motte has yet to pitch in the majors this season.
Cardinals: OF Tommy Pham (oblique) was sent to Memphis after being reinstated from the disabled list. Pham hit .281 in a 10-game rehab assignment split between Double-A and Triple-A.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Chris Rusin (1-1, 4.85 ERA) will make his fourth start after working out of the bullpen until April 30. He gave up four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 5-1 loss against Arizona last Tuesday.
Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (3-3, 6.80) allowed six earned runs and a season-high 11 hits in five innings against the Angels on Thursday. Wainwright has given up at least three earned runs in each of his first eight starts. He is 7-1 with a 1.45 ERA in his career against Colorado.
