PHOENIX -- The D-backs sent 14 men to the plate and scored nine runs in the sixth inning to erase an early deficit and beat the Cardinals, 12-7, on Monday night in the first game of a four-game set at Chase Field.
The offense made a winner of Zack Greinke (2-2) even though the right-hander did not display his vintage form. The Cardinals jumped on Greinke for a pair of runs in the first with Matt Holliday and Brandon Moss collecting the RBIs.
"The guys battled back again, great job," Arizona manager Chip Hale said. "That was unbelievable. They talk about just to keep pushing and pushing even when you don't have success early. At some point we're going to break through, so just stay positive. It's a real relentless attitude."
After the D-backs tied it with runs in the second and fourth, the Cardinals scored three runs, two of which came on Jeremy Hazelbaker's home run, in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead.
"We put up those kind of runs against a pitcher like Greinke, we have to figure out a way to get it done," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, whose club had last allowed a nine-run inning in April 2013.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Rally time: Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia seemed to be cruising until the sixth, when the D-backs put together their nine-run rally. Jean Segura had the big blow of the inning, a three-run homer off reliever Kevin Siegrist. The nine runs were the most the D-backs had scored in an inning against the Cardinals. St. Louis reliever Matt Bowman (0-1) allowed two of the nine runs to take the loss.
"We just never give up," D-backs outfielder David Peralta said. "We keep playing hard, we do our thing. No matter the score, we're going to keep playing hard."
Hazelbaker heats up: Hazelbaker came off the bench to replace Holliday in the third and hit himself out of a recent funk. After tallying one hit in his previous 23 at-bats, Hazelbaker launched a two-run blast -- his team-leading fifth homer -- in his first at-bat and then delivered an RBI triple his next time up. Before Monday, no Cardinals player had homered and tripled in a game he didn't start.
Hanging around: Greinke managed to settle in after the rough first and kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard over the next three innings. Even after a three-run fifth, Greinke limited the damage and managed to pitch into the seventh, which helped the beleaguered bullpen.
"It's all that matters," Greinke said of the team winning. "If you want to win games in the future, you have to get more outs, but today I'll take it as long as it's not all the time." More >
Ill-prepared: Weakened by illness over the weekend, neither Siegrist, nor Kolten Wong, appeared to be at full strength Monday -- and that complicated the sixth inning for the Cards. Siegrist, who pitched a scoreless inning while ill Sunday, did not retire any of the three batters he faced as the sixth unraveled behind him Monday. Wong, who entered in a double-switch that inning, fumbled on one grounder and then later lost his grip trying to turn a double play. He did not return to the field the following inning and noted afterward that he felt so weak out in the field he worried he might pass out.
QUOTABLE
"I know something has been off for a while. You get in bad habits and you repeat those bad habits and they become routine. I'm trying to break those and trying to get back to something that works." -- Seth Maness, after a 30-minute postgame video session in which he sought to identify flaws in his mechanics. Maness allowed two runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings of relief.More >
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
With his second-inning strikeout of Chris Owings, Garcia became the 11th lefty in Cardinals history -- and the first since Steve Carlton -- to notch 600 career strikeouts with the club. Garcia leads all St. Louis pitchers with 29 strikeouts.
INJURY REPORT
Holliday left after the top of the third due to a right leg cramp. He was replaced in left field by Hazelbaker and was listed by the club as day to day. More >
UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Though he launched a fifth-inning pitch into the glove of a fan seated in the first row above the left-field wall, Hazelbaker had to wait a few extra minutes before being awarded with his fifth homer. A crew chief review determined that there had been no fan interference on the play.
WHAT'S NEXT
Cardinals: On the heels of back-to-back seven-inning starts, right-hander Carlos Martinez will make his third career start (sixth appearance) against the D-backs when he starts Tuesday at 8:40 p.m. CT. The Cards have won all five of those previous games against Arizona in which Martinez appeared.
D-backs: Righty Shelby Miller starts against the team that drafted him in the first round in 2009. The game, which begins at 6:40 p.m. MST, is the second of a four-game set.
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