By Pat Graham, Associated Press
DENVER (AP) — Adam Wainwright kept up his mastery of the Rockies by scattering three hits over seven innings, Tommy Pham hit a two-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals beat Colorado 3-0 on Saturday night.
Wainwright (5-3) struck out six and retired the last 10 batters he faced as he moved to 10-1 with a 1.56 ERA over his career against Colorado.
Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a run-scoring single in the third. Pham had the big blow in the fifth, when he lined a slider from Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland (5-3) into the left-center seats.
The Cardinals withstood a scare in the eighth, with Trevor Rosenthal working his way out of a bases loaded jam by getting Carlos Gonzalez to ground out. Seung Hwan Oh pitched the ninth for his 11th save in 13 chances.
Freeland lasted six innings and gave up three runs for the NL-leading Rockies. He couldn't follow the lead of fellow rookie Antonio Senzatela, who threw eight shutout innings the night before.
Wainwright & Co. wore camouflage green hats and matching socks for Memorial Day weekend. He confused the Rockies all night by mixing his hard-to-hit curveball with a cutter.
And this was definitely more like the Wainwright of old, not the one who struggled through April with a 2-3 mark.
He's gone 3-0 in May and rediscovered the touch on his curve. That was apparent in a 10-pitch at-bat to Gonzalez in the fourth, when Wainwright threw seven curves, including the one that finally struck out Gonzalez. Wainwright also froze Trevor Story in the same inning with a 92-mph fastball.
Freeland worked his way out of early trouble courtesy of two double plays. St. Louis has now hit into six double plays in splitting the first two games of the series.
