ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tommy Edman had a three-run homer with a career-best five RBIs, Nolan Gorman hit his first big league grand slam and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 14-5 on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.
“So nice to end the homestand on that note, and hopefully we can keep that momentum going," Edman said.
Madison Bumgarner (0-3) was hit hard again, allowing seven runs, seven hits and four walks in three innings.
“The empathetic side of me hurts for him,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I want every pitcher to do well and I know how hard he’s working. He’s just grinding. And the other side of me is extremely frustrated. I want to see everybody do well and help us win baseball games and unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
The 33-year-old left-hander’s ERA rose from 7.90 to 10.26 in four starts.
”I wish I had some kind of answers. I’m going to look for them, but right now I don’t," he said.
St. Louis set a season high for runs, scoring three or more runs in four innings.
“We haven’t been able to cash in the amount of runs that we would like, but today that was not the case,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That is what our offense is capable of doing on any given day.”
Edman was a single short of the cycle and reached base four times. His leadoff double started a three-run first that included RBI doubles by Dylan Carlson and Willson Contreras. The switch hitter got RBIs from both sides of the plate.
“Felt like I was able to kind of slow everything down today,” Edman said. “My at-bats felt like I was seeing the ball well throughout.”
Alek Thomas hit a two-run homer in the second, and Christian Walker’s sacrifice fly tied the score in the third.
Rookie Jordan Walker, who broke out of a 1-for-17 slide with a pair of hits, had go-ahead single in the third, and Edman homered for a 7-3 lead.
“You’re just seeing a lot of really good hitters do really good at the plate,” Gorman said. “We’ve got a really good lineup. So, our bats are going to come around, you know, whenever they do, like they have been, we score a lot of runs.”
Pavin Smith homered in the fourth and Edman hit a two-run triple in the bottom half against Peter Solomon, then scored on Dylan Carlson’s single to put the Cardinals ahead 10-4. Gorman homered in the sixth, his fifth home run this season.
Jake Woodford (1-2) earned his first win as a starter since last Aug. 23, allowing four runs and eight hits in five innings.
“I still have a lot to improve on, definitely got to get better, just kind of got burned by the long ball today,” Woodford said. “Other than that, I thought I made a lot of really good pitches.”
Solomon, a 26-year-old right-hander, gave up seven runs, four hits and four walks in 2 1/3 innings, lifting his ERA to 12.27.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: C José Herrera left in the bottom of the sixth after taking a foul ball off of his helmet.
Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (groin) made the first of two scheduled rehab starts for Double-A Springfield. He gave up two runs and four hits in three innings with three strikeouts and no walks, throwing 40 of 59 pitches for strikes.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: Fernando Tatis Jr. returns from an 80-game drug suspension for San Diego when Arizona opens a homestand against the Padres on Thursday night. RHP Ryne Nelson (1-0, 3.71 ERA) starts for Arizona and RHP Michael Wacha (2-1, 6.06 ERA) for San Diego.
Cardinals: LHP Steven Matz (0-2, 6.48 ERA) will start the opener of a three-game series on Friday at Seattle and RHP George Kirby (1-1, 3.78 ERA). The Cardinals are 0-6 in series openers. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
