Turnin 2 SS 2b
07-30-2002, 11:33 PM
MIAMI -- The Scott Rolen era got off to a flying start with the Cardinals.
The newly acquired St. Louis third baseman made an immediate impact Tuesday, going 2-for-4 with an RBI triple in the Cardinals' 5-0 victory over the Marlins before 8,187 at Pro Player Stadium.
Edgar Renteria pounded out a pair of homers and Andy Benes turned in his best performance of the season.
Benes (1-3) scattered four hits in 6 1/3 innings, posting his longest shutout inning string working eight inning without a run Sept. 11, 1999. Mike Crudale and Matt Duff, making his Major League debut, combined on the shutout. Duff worked a perfect ninth, striking out two.
Prior to the game, Rolen gave his first news conference since being traded late Monday from Philadelphia. He talked about moving on and not having any "bad blood" against his former team.
Still getting acclimated, Rolen was still wearing his Phillies' cleats, which have No. 17 on them. In St. Louis, that number is retired because it was worn by Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean. So the All-Star third baseman sports No. 16.
A change of scenery, at least Tuesday, agrees with him.
Several hundred Cardinals fans gave Rolen a standing ovation on his first at-bat.
Michael Tejera (6-4) gave up eight hits and three runs - all on solo homers.
Scoreless until the fifth, Tino Martinez snapped the deadlock with his 13th homer, a solo shot to right. It was his fourth homer off a left-hander. One batter later, it was 2-0 as Renteria drove a shot to left, marking the fourth time the Cardinals have gone back-to-back this season. They did it three times in July.
Renteria went deep again in the seventh, smashing another blast in almost the identical spot for his seventh homer. The 377-foot drive led off the inning, and bumped the Cardinals lead to 3-0.
All three of Renteria's multi-homer games have come at Pro Player Stadium. He last did it on May 31, 1999. And on July 18, 1997, when the shortstop was with the Marlins, he homered twice against the Padres.
Renteria, 2-for-3 Tuesday, is now 16-for-33 (.485) in his eight-game hitting streak.
Both teams had their chances early, but were stymied by some sparkling defensive plays.
St. Louis threatened with two outs in the fourth. With Fernando Vina (hit by pitch) and Jim Edmonds (walk) on first and second, Rolen delivered his first hit as a Cardinal with a single to left. Vina was waved in, but Kevin Millar fired an accurate strike to the plate. Catcher Mike Redmond effectively blocked the plate and applied the tag for the final out.
The Marlins loaded the bases in the first two innings, but came away empty. Benes got Millar on a check-swing strikeout to end the first. And in the second, the Marlins filled the bases with no outs after Redmond was hit by a pitch, and successive singles by Andy Fox and Tejera. But Luis Castillo lifted a short fly out to left and Eric Owens softly lined back to Benes, who doubled up Tejera at first.
The Cardinals tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth off Vic Darensbourg. Albert Pujols tripled and scored on Rolen's triple. Martinez capped the scoring with an RBI double.
The Cardinals, who had 12 hits, had a string of eight consecutive extra base hits.
The newly acquired St. Louis third baseman made an immediate impact Tuesday, going 2-for-4 with an RBI triple in the Cardinals' 5-0 victory over the Marlins before 8,187 at Pro Player Stadium.
Edgar Renteria pounded out a pair of homers and Andy Benes turned in his best performance of the season.
Benes (1-3) scattered four hits in 6 1/3 innings, posting his longest shutout inning string working eight inning without a run Sept. 11, 1999. Mike Crudale and Matt Duff, making his Major League debut, combined on the shutout. Duff worked a perfect ninth, striking out two.
Prior to the game, Rolen gave his first news conference since being traded late Monday from Philadelphia. He talked about moving on and not having any "bad blood" against his former team.
Still getting acclimated, Rolen was still wearing his Phillies' cleats, which have No. 17 on them. In St. Louis, that number is retired because it was worn by Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean. So the All-Star third baseman sports No. 16.
A change of scenery, at least Tuesday, agrees with him.
Several hundred Cardinals fans gave Rolen a standing ovation on his first at-bat.
Michael Tejera (6-4) gave up eight hits and three runs - all on solo homers.
Scoreless until the fifth, Tino Martinez snapped the deadlock with his 13th homer, a solo shot to right. It was his fourth homer off a left-hander. One batter later, it was 2-0 as Renteria drove a shot to left, marking the fourth time the Cardinals have gone back-to-back this season. They did it three times in July.
Renteria went deep again in the seventh, smashing another blast in almost the identical spot for his seventh homer. The 377-foot drive led off the inning, and bumped the Cardinals lead to 3-0.
All three of Renteria's multi-homer games have come at Pro Player Stadium. He last did it on May 31, 1999. And on July 18, 1997, when the shortstop was with the Marlins, he homered twice against the Padres.
Renteria, 2-for-3 Tuesday, is now 16-for-33 (.485) in his eight-game hitting streak.
Both teams had their chances early, but were stymied by some sparkling defensive plays.
St. Louis threatened with two outs in the fourth. With Fernando Vina (hit by pitch) and Jim Edmonds (walk) on first and second, Rolen delivered his first hit as a Cardinal with a single to left. Vina was waved in, but Kevin Millar fired an accurate strike to the plate. Catcher Mike Redmond effectively blocked the plate and applied the tag for the final out.
The Marlins loaded the bases in the first two innings, but came away empty. Benes got Millar on a check-swing strikeout to end the first. And in the second, the Marlins filled the bases with no outs after Redmond was hit by a pitch, and successive singles by Andy Fox and Tejera. But Luis Castillo lifted a short fly out to left and Eric Owens softly lined back to Benes, who doubled up Tejera at first.
The Cardinals tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth off Vic Darensbourg. Albert Pujols tripled and scored on Rolen's triple. Martinez capped the scoring with an RBI double.
The Cardinals, who had 12 hits, had a string of eight consecutive extra base hits.