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Seattle Mariners

Cardinals pound M’s

Mariners starter Erasmo Ramirez gave up five runs on eight hits over four innings against the Cardinals. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS – Seattle right-hander Erasmo Ramirez says he must return to the basics.

“I need to concentrate and throw more strikes,” he said. “It’s that simple.”

Ramirez pitched into the sixth inning in his previous six outings. But the St. Louis Cardinals got to him a lot earlier on Sunday and beat the Mariners 12-2.

Ramirez lasted just four innings, giving up five runs and eight hits. St. Louis chased him with a four-run, five-hit outburst in the fourth inning.

“He just fell out of his delivery,” manager Eric Wedge said. “He really lost command of his fastball. It was flat and out over the plate.”

Ramirez, in his 11th start of the season, allowed one run on three hits over the first three innings. The Cardinals then sent 10 hitters to the plate in the fourth.

“There’s no excuse, I’ve got to control that,” Ramirez said of the big inning. “I don’t have to always be perfect.”

Yadier Molina had a home run and three singles as Shelby Miller and the Cardinals remained tied for first place in the N.L. Central with the victory.

Molina ended an 0-for-15 slump with a second-inning homer.

Matt Adams also homered as St. Louis won for the seventh time in nine games and kept pace with Pittsburgh. Both teams are 87-62 with 13 games remaining.

Miller (14-9) gave up one earned run and three hits in five innings. He became the first St. Louis rookie to reach 14 wins in a season since Dick Hughes won 16 in 1967.

St. Louis got 19 hits after totaling just three runs on seven hits over the first two games of the series.

Matt Carpenter keyed the fourth-inning burst with a two-run, bases-loaded single.

Daniel Descalso and Matt Holliday also had RBI hits in the inning.

Holliday and Carpenter finished with three hits and two RBIs two apiece.

Adams pushed the lead to 7-2 with his 14th homer to highlight a four-run fifth.

Miller did not allow a hit in the first three innings and managed to battle through the fourth and fifth.

Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Ackley 2b-lf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .256
A.Almonte cf 3 1 1 1 0 0 .295
Seager 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .272
K.Morales 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .282
F.Gutierrez rf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .259
M.Saunders lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .232
Ruffin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Luetge p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Zunino ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .221
Quintero c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .224
Triunfel ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .111
E.Ramirez p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Chavez ph 1 1 0 0 0 0 .270
Capps p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
LaFromboise p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Franklin 2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .216
Totals 30 2 5 2 2 4
St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Carpenter 2b 5 1 3 2 0 0 .319
A.Perez c 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Jay cf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .265
Holliday lf 5 1 3 2 0 0 .287
S.Robinson rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261
Beltran rf 5 0 1 2 0 0 .302
Chambrs pr-lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125
Y.Molina c 5 3 4 1 0 0 .317
S.Freeman p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Rosenthal p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Ma.Adams 1b 5 2 2 2 0 2 .268
Freese 3b 2 2 1 0 0 1 .261
Jackson ph-3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Descalso ss 5 2 2 2 0 0 .239
S.Miller p 2 0 0 0 0 0 .078
Peterson ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .083
Choate p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Axford p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —-
Wong ph-2b 2 1 1 0 0 0 .163
Totals 42 12 19 12 0 3
Seattle 000 110 000—2 5 0
St. Louis 010 440 30x—12 19 1

E—Descalso (14). LOB—Seattle 4, St. Louis 9. 2B—A.Almonte (4), Holliday (29), Freese (24), Descalso (21). HR—Y.Molina (12), off E.Ramirez; Ma.Adams (14), off Capps. RBIs—A.Almonte (6), F.Gutierrez (21), M.Carpenter 2 (72), Jay (65), Holliday 2 (84), Beltran 2 (78), Y.Molina (66), Ma.Adams 2 (44), Descalso 2 (38). CS—Ackley (3). SF—A.Almonte. RLSP—Seattle 1, St. Louis 5. RMU—Seager, Jay, B.Peterson. GIDP—Franklin, Descalso. DP—Seattle 1, St. Louis 1.

Seattle IP H R ER BB SO ERA
E.Ramirez L,5-2 4 8 5 5 0 1 4.98
Capps 0 3 3 3 0 0 5.87
LaFromboise 1 3 1 1 0 0 8.53
Ruffin 2 5 3 3 0 2 7.71
Luetge 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.67
St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO ERA
S.Miller W,14-9 5 3 2 1 2 1 3.01
Choate 1 1 0 0 0 2 2.41
Axford 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.33
S.Freeman 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.89
Rosenthal 1 0 0 0 0 1 2.21

IR-S—LaFromboise 1-1. HBP—Freese, Jay, Freese. T—3:09. A—40,526 (43,975).