Axford, Matheny ejected after hit by pitch

ST. LOUIS -- Both reliever John Axford and manager Mike Matheny were ejected from the Cardinals' 12-8 victory over the Pirates on Friday night.

Home-plate umpire Tony Randazzo removed the recently acquired right-hander and the St. Louis skipper from the game in the eighth when Axford plunked Pittsburgh's Tony Sanchez with a pitch. Both teams had already been issued warnings after Bryan Morris narrowly missed Yadier Molina with a head-level pitch in the seventh, which, per Major League rules, mandated Matheny's ejection, his sixth as a manager.

"I know that they're watching close and that was what he felt, so that's the decision he made," Matheny said.

With the Cards leading 12-1 entering the eighth, and the game seemingly all but over, Axford gave up a leadoff double before hitting Sanchez, handing the ball off to Jake Westbrook, who made his first appearance off the disabled list with a runner already in scoring position.

"I had a good opportunity to build off my outing last time in which things were going well and I was throwing well, then two hitters I'm out of the game," Axford said. "Obviously not my intention. I didn't want it to go that way. I wish I could have just built off my last outing a little bit better and obviously not put Jake Westbrook in that situation either. That's also pretty upsetting to me. I'd rather take care of that myself."