Cardinals down Rockies to earn split of four-game set

Masyn Winn drove in two runs and Andre Pallante threw five scoreless innings as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the visiting Colorado Rockies 5-1 Sunday.

Alec Burleson hit a homer and Pedro Pages had an RBI and two runs for the Cardinals, who salvaged a 2-2 split in the four-game series.

Pallante (2-2) held the Rockies to three hits while striking out six batters and walking one.

Relievers Matthew Liberatore (one inning), Ryan Fernandez (1 2/3 innings), and John King (1 1/3 innings) tagged in behind Pallante to finish off the victory.

Rockies starting pitcher Ty Blach (2-4) allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked one.

Colorado's best chance against Liberatore came in the second inning, when Elias Diaz and Brenton Doyle hit singles to open the frame. But Jake Cave grounded into a double play and Michael Toglia struck out to end the threat.

St. Louis took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Dylan Carlson hit a double, took third on a flyout and scored on Pages' sacrifice fly.

Burleson lifted his homer just over the right field wall to make it 2-0 in the third inning.

The Cardinals increased their advantage to 4-0 in the fourth inning. Brendan Donovan and Pages hit one-out singles, then advanced on Michael Siani's sacrifice bunt and scored on Winn's single into left field.

St. Louis increased their lead to 5-0 in the sixth inning. After Pages drew a leadoff walk and Winn reached on a one-out bunt single, Burleson hit a potential double-play grounder, but a throwing error by shortstop Ezequiel Tovar allowed Burleson to reach base and Pages to score.

Colorado finally got on the board in the ninth inning. Tovar hit a double and scored on a single by Diaz.

--Field Level Media