Erick Fedde fans 10 as Cardinals beat Rockies 5-2 for 4th straight win

DENVER (AP) — Iván Herrera had two hits and two runs scored, Masyn Winn tripled and doubled and Erick Fedde struck out 10 as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Pedro Pagés had two RBI singles and Thomas Saggese added a pair of hits for the Cardinals, who have won four straight and will try to complete a series sweep in Thursday’s finale.

Brenton Doyle homered leading off the bottom of the ninth against Matthew Liberatore, who was relieved by Ryan Helsley after issuing a one-out walk to Michael Toglia. Sam Hilliard then grounded into a game-ending double play on the first pitch he saw from Helsley, who earned his 48th save in 52 chances.

Helsley tied the club record for saves in a season by Trevor Rosenthal, who also had 48 saves in 2015.

“One pitch. Awesome job. It’s a good way to do it. But he came in and made it look awful easy,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s worked so hard for this. He’s taken the ball a lot and he’s been extremely effective.”

Aaron Schunk had an RBI single for the Rockies (60-98) who need to win three of their final four games to avoid their second straight 100-loss season. Colorado lost a franchise record 103 games last season. The Rockies close out the season with a weekend series against the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

Fedde (9-9) went seven innings and allowed one run on six hits, snapping a string of four consecutive losing decisions. His 10 strikeouts were one shy of the career high he set against Minnesota on April 23 while with the Chicago White Sox. The Cardinals acquired him on July 29 as part of a three-team trade with the Dodgers and White Sox.

“It’s a dream ending in a sense,” Fedde said. “It just reminds me of what I’m capable of. This just will give me a great taste in my mouth heading into the offseason and stuff to grow off of.”

Austin Gomber, a former Cardinal, went five innings and allowed four runs on seven hits. Colorado acquired Gomber (5-12) along with four other players by sending Nolan Arenado to St. Louis in a February 2021 trade. Gomber has become a fixture in the Rockies rotation.

“He hung in there,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He made 30 starts this season, pitched 160-some innings. He pretty much answered the bell the whole season. Tonight he competed, let it all hang out. They nicked him for four runs in five innings. Some good pitches they just got hits off of. He just got out-pitched today by Fedde.”

Saggese’s two-out double in the top of the second scored Herrera from second. In the third, Winn tripled and scored on Brendan Donovan’s sacrifice fly to put the Cardinals up 2-0.

The Rockies got on board with Schunk’s RBI single in the bottom of the third but the Cardinals answered with runs in the fourth and fifth on Pagés' RBI single and Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly, which scored Winn after he doubled and moved to third on a groundout.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: LHP JoJo Romero, one of the team’s top pitchers in the bullpen, was placed on the 15-day injured list ahead of Wednesday’s game with left forearm inflammation. The move was retroactive to Sunday. RHP Chris Roycroft was recalled from Memphis (AAA) to fill Romero’s roster spot.

Rockies: RHP Ryan Feltner, who allowed two runs on six hits in six innings Tuesday night against St. Louis before being lifted due to forearm tightness, threw on the side Wednesday with no issues and is expected to start the Rockies’ final game of the season Sunday against the Dodgers. “He feels fine today,” Black said. “In the daily pitchers’ throwing program, he felt fine. It was just one of those games last night, after the sixth, he felt a little bit of tightness in the forearm.”

UP NEXT

RHP Kyle Gibson (8-8, 4.13 ERA) is slated to start Thursday’s series finale for the Cardinals. He’ll be opposed by Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (5-8, 4.95 ERA).

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Dennis Georgatos, The Associated Press