Rockies win against rocky Cards pitching

ST. LOUIS -- Denny Neagle pitched six solid innings, and Larry Walker hit a three-run homer as the Colorado Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 Wednesday night.

Garrett Stephenson had a rocky return to the rotation for the Cardinals, allowing six runs and six hits in four innings of a game played in 45-degree weather.

Stephenson (0-1) made a rapid recovery from reconstructive elbow surgery last April 25, but allowed three runs in each of the first two innings in his first start since the 2000 playoffs against Atlanta. He struck out three and walked two.

A 16-game winner two years ago, Stephenson allowed only two runs in 14 innings this spring.

Todd Zeile drove in two runs for the second straight game for the Rockies, who lost 10-2 on opening day. Todd Hollandsworth added an RBI double.

Neagle allowed one run and five hits, silencing a St. Louis lineup that roughed up Mike Hampton and scored 10 runs in the season opener. The lefty improved to 12-5 career against the Cardinals, including two victories last year.

Neagle has started the second game of the season the last three years and gone 2-0, with both wins coming against the Cardinals. He struck out four and walked one, throwing 124 pitches. He also doubled and scored in the second.

Jose Jimenez pitched a hitless ninth for his first save.

A pair of walks, to Juan Uribe and Todd Helton, got Stephenson into trouble in the first. Zeile hit a two-out, two-run double just inside the third-base line, and Hollandsworth followed with a run-scoring double.

Neagle, a .158 career hitter, doubled over the head of center fielder Jim Edmonds with one out in the second. After Juan Pierre singled, Walker hit a 1-0 pitch for his first homer and a 6-0 lead.

Two-out singles by Placido Polanco, J.D. Drew and Albert Pujols gave the Cardinals a run in the third. Pujols, the NL rookie of the year last season, has four RBIs in two games.

Walker, the NL batting champion last year with a .350 average, is 3-for-7 in the first two games.

The game-time temperature, which had been expected to dip into the 30s, was the coldest at Busch Stadium since St. Louis played the Padres on April 3, 1998, in 44-degree weather.

But three of the Cardinals, catcher Mike Matheny and relievers Gene Stechshulte and Dave Veres, played in short sleeves. So did Rockies reliever Todd Jones, who allowed an RBI single to Edgar Renteria and an RBI groundout to Miguel Cairo in the eighth.