Martinez wins 4th, Cardinals rout Diamondbacks 8-2

PHOENIX -- Carlos Martinez gave up three hits in eight scoreless innings, Brandon Moss and Stephen Piscotty homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 on Tuesday night.

Martinez (4-0) won for the fourth time in four starts. The 24-year-old right-hander held the Diamondbacks without a hit until David Peralta's one-out single in the fourth.

Moss had four hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth inning. Piscotty added a two-run shot in the seventh.

Former Cardinal Shelby Miller (0-2) threw four scoreless innings before St. Louis broke through for five runs in the fifth.

Still, it was a small step forward for Miller, who had battled control issues and hadn't made it past the second inning in his previous two outings.

Jake Lamb and Yasmany Tomas homered for Arizona off reliever Tyler Lyons in the ninth.

Martinez struck out four, walked one and hit a batter. Besides Peralta's single, the other hits off him were Jean Segura's sixth-inning single and Tomas' seventh-inning double.

Chris Owings, an infielder shifted to the outfield with A.J. Pollock's injury, showed his inexperience in center in the Cardinals' big fourth inning. With runners at first and second and one out, Owings broke the wrong way, then made a diving attempt to catch Piscotty's fly ball. The ball bounced off of Owings' glove and rolled away for an RBI double.

Randal Grichuk followed with an RBI sacrifice fly, then Moss hit Miller's 1-0 pitch into the right-field seats, his fifth home run of the season, and it was 5-0.

Miller went five innings, allowing five runs and five hits. He struck out six and walked four.

Power surge

St. Louis and Arizona entered the game tied with the most home runs in the majors at 30 apiece. Only they kept it up on Tuesday.

They each have 32 homers, the Cardinals through 20 games, the Diamondbacks through 22.

Nine St. Louis batters have homered this year, led by Moss and Jeremy Hazelbaker with five apiece. Ten Diamondbacks have homered, led by Paul Goldschmidt's five.

Arizona has home runs in seven straight games.

Trainer's room

Cardinals: OF Matt Holliday was out of the lineup as a precaution after leaving Monday night's game with a right leg cramp.

Diamondbacks: RHP Josh Collmenter (right shoulder tightness) threw one inning (11 pitches) in an extended spring training game on Monday, then pitched another inning in the bullpen. He is to pitch in another extended spring training game on Thursday before going to Class A Visalia on a rehab assignment.

Up next

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (0-3, 7.25 ERA) takes the mound for St. Louis still looking for his first win of the season.

Diamondbacks: LHP Patrick Corbin (1-2, 3.51) makes his fifth start of the season, in the third game of the four-game series with the Cardinals.