by Bob McManaman – May. 8, 2012 10:33 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
By the time Ian Kennedy discovered his rhythm Tuesday night, the St. Louis Cardinals already had found themselves enjoying a comfortable six-run lead against the right-hander and the Diamondbacks.
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And they got that courtesy of two home runs from right fielder Carlos Beltran, who belted a two-run shot in the first inning and then unloaded on Kennedy for a grand slam in the second.
It was more than enough for the defending World Series champions to walk out of Chase Field with their second consecutive victory over the Diamondbacks, 6-1 in front of 30,156.
It was the fourth consecutive defeat for the Diamondbacks, who have dropped six of their past seven. Kennedy managed to retire 13 consecutive batters at one point, but Beltran’s carnage put an end to his long-running success at Chase.
Until taking the loss and seeing his record fall to 3-2 this season, Kennedy was 10-0 in his previous 11 starts at home.
“He just didn’t have good rhythm in the beginning and wasn’t able to hit his spots,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “That (St. Louis) team is very good. They don’t leave you a lot of room, and obviously Beltran had him covered up pretty good.
“There’s areas you have to pitch to. He wasn’t able to get it there.”
If there was a positive, it was that Kennedy worked through his mistakes over the plate and settled into a groove, thus allowing Gibson the luxury of not having to tap into his bullpen early again, as was the case Monday when Joe Saunders couldn’t get out of the fourth inning.
Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (4-2), meanwhile, pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.
The Diamondbacks didn’t score until the ninth inning when Miguel Montero drove in Justin Upton with a double to center field.
“We’ve got injuries, which doesn’t really help. Some guys have got to pick them up,” said Kennedy, who allowed six runs and six hits in seven innings with two walks and six strikeouts. “But guys are going to get healthy, guys are going to start hitting better. We’ve got to pick each other up. That’s what a team does.”
Kennedy was at a loss to explain his being off target to start the game. He was asked if it had anything to do with how he felt after warming up in the bullpen.
“I’ve always said it doesn’t make a difference what I feel like when I’m warming up or how my work was all week,” he said. “… Sometimes you feel great and sometimes you don’t. Today I was medium. I didn’t feel great, I didn’t feel bad.
“But yeah, this really sucks.”
Gibson refuses to stop being optimistic. He said he’s convinced that last year’s National League West champions can turn things around quickly.
“Sure I do. What’s the other choice?” he said. “The other choice would never even be in my vocabulary. We came out of spring training, and how did everybody feel? What’s changed?
“We’re in a tough stretch, we’ve lost four in a row. So everything changes? We went through this last year. There’s no excuses. It’s just the way it is and we will come out of it together.”
Rewind
Beltran’s blasts: It wasn’t quite like Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton’s 5-for-5, four-homer performance Tuesday against the Orioles, but the Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran started just as strong. Beltran launched two long home runs in his first two at-bats against Ian Kennedy, including a grand slam.
After that, however, Kennedy struck out Beltran twice. It was the ninth and 10th homers of the season for Beltran. It was also his 32nd career multi-homer game and his 10th career grand slam.
Upton still struggling: Right fielder Justin Upton continues to scuffle at the plate. It’s unclear as to what degree an earlier thumb injury is still affecting him, but he went 1 for 4 on Tuesday — reaching on a single in the ninth — and is 4 for 25 in his past six games.
The two-time All Star is batting .235 overall with three homers and nine RBIs.
“He’s working hard. He knows what he’s doing. The key is to not get frustrated with it,” manager Kirk Gibson said before the game. “Just try and keep your composure and power through it.”
Molina leaves: Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina left the game in the bottom of the ninth because of a left-wrist injury suffered while trying to catch a pitch from reliever Mitchell Boggs.
Molina had X-rays after the game, but the results weren’t immediately available.
Ransom’s strikeouts: As good as journeyman Cody Ransom has been in limited spurts this season, he acknowledged before this game that he has to do a much better job of cutting down his strikeouts.
That might have to be a work in progress, as Ransom struck out in each of his four plate appearances for the dreaded “Golden Sombrero.” That gives him 16 strikeouts in 41 at-bats.
View from the press box
The Diamondbacks have lost four games in a row, but it’s too early to panic. Don’t forget, they were exactly in this position a year ago, standing 14-17 after 31 games. They went on to win 94 and capture the National League West in comfortable fashion. So relax, enjoy the Coyotes’ success in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and wait for things to turn downtown. It’s only May, people.
Gotta run!.
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