Nolan Arenado hit a two-run home run in the top of ninth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Miami Marlins 2-0 Wednesday night.
Arenado, who had struck out in his first three at-bats, launched a fastball from Miami reliever Anthony Bender (0-2) over the wall in left-center for his fifth home run. Tyler O’Neill reached on a one-out walk before Arenado’s blast. Genesis Cabrera (1-0) pitched the bottom of the eighth and Giovanny Gallegos worked around a single and walk in the ninth for his third save. St. Louis has beaten Miami in nine straight games. The Cardinals will try for their third consecutive three-game sweep against the Marlins on Thursday. “We’re seeing an amazing player right now,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said of Arenado. “Defensively, offensively what he’s doing is impressive. You strike out your first at-bat, your second at-bat, your third at-bat and you’re still mentally locked in to help the team.” Starters Sandy Alcantara of Miami and Miles Mikolas of St. Louis combined to throw 13 scoreless innings in their outings. Alcantara pitched eight innings and allowed four hits, with six strikeouts and one walk. Mikolas matched Alcantara through the first five innings before he was lifted after allowing Garrett Cooper’s leadoff single in the sixth. Mikolas scattered four hits, struck out five and hit a batter. “Overall, I felt good, I had strikeouts when I really needed them,” Mikolas said. “I thought we played great defense. I tried to keep the ball in the ground.” The Marlins had just one runner reach scoring position until the ninth inning. “We didn’t have a lot of chances,” Mattingly said. “They kept us off balance.” Alcantara allowed Tommy Edman’s leadoff single and walked Paul Goldschmidt in the first before retiring Tyler O’Neill, Nolan Arenado and Corey Dickerson to escape the 28-pitch jam. The Cardinals and Marlins play again tonight at 5:40 central time.