O’Neill, Hudson help Cardinals snap D-backs’ streak

Tyler O'Neill drove in four runs with a double and a home run as the St. Louis Cardinals combined on a four-hitter to defeat the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 on Saturday night. St. Louis snapped a three-game skid to get back to .500 while ending Arizona's four-game winning streak.

Dakota Hudson (8-4) pitched six innings to get the win, allowing two runs and three hits, while striking out five and walking four. O'Neill had a two-run double in the first and hit his second homer of the year in the third inning, a two-run shot that gave St. Louis a 4-1 lead.

Eduardo Escobar's 19th home run of the season cut the lead to 4-2 in the fifth, but the Diamondbacks failed to break through against three relievers. Giovanny Gallegos pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before Andrew Miller came in to face Jake Lamb for a lefty-lefty matchup. Miller, who gave up a home run to Lamb on Friday night, walked him on four pitches, but Carlos Martinez struck out Nick Ahmed to end the inning.

Martinez worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth save. The Cardinals led 2-0 in the first inning after a two-out fielding error by third baseman Lamb that put runners on first and third. O'Neill followed by dumping a two-run double just inside the left-field line. Starter Merrill Kelly (7-9) walked the next two batters to load the bases but escaped further damage by striking out Kolton Wang.

Arizona's first four batters in the second inning reached base, but the D-backs managed only one run, that coming on a single by Ahmed. Arizona went 0-for-3 with the bases loaded, capped by Ketel Marte's fly out to deep right. Kelly committed a fielding error on a spinning ground ball along the first baseline to start the third for St. Louis. Two batters later, O'Neill slammed a two-run homer.

Kelly allowed four runs (one earned) and five hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked three. St. Louis first baseman Paul Goldschmidt went 0-for-3 with a walk against his former team and had a potential home run taken away by left fielder Jarrod Dyson's leaping grab at the wall.

 

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