Thompson leads Cards past Rockies 3-0
AP News | 2008-04-03 20:26:59
<div id="subtitle">Brad Thompson's Career-High 6 Strikeouts Leads Cardinals Past the Rockies 3-0</div><div><p>Brad Thompson had a career-high six strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 3-0 Thursday.</p><p>The Cardinals took two of three from the defending NL champions, who totaled five runs in the series. Colorado was 3-for-25 with runners in scoring position, two of the hits coming in the finale, but Todd Helton was thrown out at the plate in the sixth.</p><p>Thompson (1-0), a sinkerball specialist and swingman who's in the rotation while the Cardinals await several injured starters, walked two and allowed six hits. He also had his first career RBI.</p><p>Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1) was in trouble throughout a five-inning stint, allowing three runs and seven hits. He walked five, struck out four and threw two wild pitches.</p><p>Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus had RBI singles in the third as the Cardinals opened the inning with four straight base hits. Thompson, a career .176 hitter with 16 strikeouts in 34 at-bats after fanning his first two trips, singled in a run in the fifth after Jimenez issued two-out walks to Ryan Ludwick and Jason LaRue.</p><p>Anthony Reyes, who made the team as a reliever after going 2-14 last year, struck out the top of the Rockies lineup in order in the eighth and Jason Isringhausen earned his first save.</p><p>Albert Pujols wrapped up a 5-for-10, three-walk series with two hits for the Cardinals, whose string of 165 consecutive regular-season sellouts ended with an announced attendance of 39,915 Wednesday night. The crowd was listed at 33,748 for the series finale at new Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006.</p><p>Matt Holliday was 1-for-10 in the season-opening series for the Rockies. Before this week he had been a .483 hitter (14-for-29) in two-plus seasons at Busch with five homers and seven RBIs.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=17473057&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>
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