Marlins' hot spring continues in 9-1 win

JUPITER, Fla. -- The way Mark Mulder looked at it, he induced a lot of ground balls that found holes.

The St. Louis Cardinals' 16-game winner allowed five runs in the first inning of a 9-1 loss to the Florida Marlins on Sunday.

"A couple of them were hit hard, but they just weren't hit where somebody was," Mulder said.

The Marlins had five runs on four hits before Mulder could settle in. Mike Jacobs and Dan Uggla had RBI doubles, but only two of the runs were earned due to a fielding error by second baseman Junior Spivey.

Mulder, who entered with a 1.69 spring ERA, hit his stride late in the second inning and retired the last 10 batters he faced. In five innings he gave up six runs, two earned, with six strikeouts and two walks.

"I felt really good the last few innings, especially with my sinker," Mulder said. "Despite the first inning I was really pleased with the way I threw."

The Marlins are 16-6-3 and have won six in a row this spring. They're 3-1-1 against the Cardinals, including two shutouts.

Noteworthy

• The Cardinals released relief pitcher Jeff Nelson, who fell short in an attempt to make the team as a non-roster invitee to spring training. Nelson, 39, was cut despite giving up only one hit and no runs in 5 2/3 innings.

* The Cardinals also reassigned Brian Daubach, a first baseman/outfielder who also had been a non-roster invitee, to Triple-A Memphis. Dau-bach, who hit .333 in 30 at-bats with two home runs and nine RBIs, indicated he would probably report to the minor league camp on Tuesday.