Gruppen » five innings.I thought (Estrada) was a little bit off, Bl

DENVER -- The St. Louis Cardinals picked up a win before a pitch was even thrown when reserve outfielder Jose Martinez captured a playful, pregame staredown with Colorado reliever Carlos Estevez.Too bad for the Cardinals that didnt count in the standings. They sure couldve used it.Nolan Arenado hit a grand slam, German Marquez pitched five solid innings for his first major league win and the Rockies slowed the Cardinals playoff chase with an 11-1 victory on Wednesday.The Cardinals, who had won four straight, entered the day tied with New York and San Francisco atop the NL wild-card standings. The Mets and Giants both played later.Arenado broke open the game in the second with his NL-leading 39th homer of the season. His fourth career slam made it 6-1.Its a pitch that simply caught too much of the plate.Stayed straight, starter Luke Weaver said. For it to flatten out at such a big moment right there is disappointing.Weaver (1-4) was roughed up by the Rockies, surrendering seven hits and six runs in two innings. Before this game, the right-hander had allowed 12 earned runs in his last seven starts combined.The Cardinals had some early momentum when that standoff went their way just after the anthem.Heres how it unfolded: Estevez and Martinez stood near their dugouts -- with their baseball cap over their heart -- and refused to back down until the other moved first.Estevez blinked first and made a winner of Martinez, who celebrated before retreating to the dugout. Estevez said manager Walt Weiss pulled him in out of fear of being ejected.Its not fun to have one less bullpen guy, Estevez explained.Martinez was going to see this thing through to the end -- no matter the consequences.The umpire asked me, `Why you do that? Im like, `When youre a rookie and a big league guy asks you to stand up there, I stand up there, said Martinez, who had a pinch-hit single in the seventh. The most important thing is we have fun and the fans enjoyed it.This was a memorable day for Marquez (1-0), who made his first big league start after three appearances out of the bullpen. He allowed one run and struck out three.At 21 years, 212 days, Marquez was the second-youngest pitcher in Rockies history to earn his first win, the team announced. The youngest was Jamey Wright (21-206).A great pitching performance from the kid today, Weiss said. Its easy -- easy velocity. Very effortless.The hard-throwing Marquez was acquired in January as part of the deal that sent outfielder Corey Dickerson to Tampa Bay. Marquez pitched a majority of the season for Double-A Hartford, where he was chosen as the pitcher of the year in the Eastern League.Marquez worked his way out of several dicey situations against the best road team in baseball. He allowed his only run in the second, when Jeremy Hazelbaker led off with a double and later scored on Kolten Wongs sacrifice fly.The Cardinals took two of three from Colorado during a series in which their starting pitchers were brilliant at the plate. Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright and Weaver went a combined 4 for 4 with two doubles and six RBI. Weaver had a single in his only plate appearance.DJ LeMahieu got two hits and drove in two runs to raise his average to .351. He holds a slight lead over Washingtons Daniel Murphy in the NL batting race.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: OF Matt Holliday (broken right thumb) is hoping to take live batting practice Friday at Wrigley Field before the Chicago Cubs series. ... C Yadier Molina had the day off.Rockies: Third base coach Stu Cole sat out another day after being hit in the head by a ball that caromed off another during batting practice Tuesday.THIS & THATRockies catcher Tom Murphy had a three-run homer as part of a five-run seventh. ... Arenados grand slam gives him 128 RBI this season, which leads the majors.UP NEXTCardinals: After a day off, RHP Mike Leake (9-10, 4.54 ERA) opens a three-game series Friday in Chicago. RHP Jake Arrieta (17-7, 2.96) goes for the Cubs.Rockies: RHP Tyler Chatwood (11-9, 4.13) takes the mound Thursday to begin a four-game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers. Chatwood is 7-1 with a 1.77 ERA in 11 road starts this season. China Jerseys Cheap .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Cheap Jerseys From China . -- The plastic that was taped across the lockers in Oaklands clubhouse came down and the champagne that was on ice went back into the cooler. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/ . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Fake China Jerseys . -- Arizona raced out to a big lead and did not back off, hitting the accelerator instead. China Jerseys Wholesale . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery Friday. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. TORONTO -- In a season that has seen the losses pile up, Drew Smyly finally put two wins together.Smyly pitched six innings to win consecutive decisions for the first time in 2016, Logan Forsythe hit a solo homer and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 9-2 on Tuesday night.The Blue Jays loaded the bases against Smyly in each of his final two innings. The left-hander gave up two runs in the fifth but turned Toronto away in the sixth.Drew was good, Rays manager Kevin Cash said. His last two innings seemed to be the most difficult. He found a way to get through it. Bases loaded, no outs against that club at the end of his outing, to get out of that without giving up a run is pretty impressive.Smyly (4-11) allowed two runs and six hits, improving to 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in five career games at Rogers Centre.Its a really tough lineup over there, Smyly said. Theyve got a lot of hitters that can do damage. Those fifth and sixth innings got a little stressful. You cant give in, youve got to think next batter, keep attacking, keep going at them. Im lucky and Im thankful that I was able to limit the damage.Smyly is 13-4 with a 2.32 ERA in 35 career games against the AL East. The Rays are 14-6 in Smylys 20 starts against division foes since he joined the team in 2014.Drew battled his tail of tonight, Forsythe said.Smyly had not won consecutive decisions since winning five straight in August and September in 2015.Evan Longoria reached base four times, scored twice and drove in three runs for the Rays. Forsythe had three hits, two RBI and scored twice as the Rays roughed up Torontos bullpen, scoring six runs off two relievers.Tampa Bay finished with 15 hits, three shy of its season high. The Rays had 18 hits in a 13-7 victory over Boston on June 27.We stranded a lot of base runners early, Cash said. It was nice to see we kind of made up for that later in the ball game.Erasmo Ramirez pitched the final three innings for his first career save.Longoria singled in thee first, walked in the third, doubled home a run in the sixth and hit a two-run single in the seventh.dddddddddddd He has 61 career extra base hits against the Blue Jays.Forsythe connected on Marco Estradas fourth pitch of the game. It was Forsythes second career leadoff homer and the fourth of the season for the Rays.Toronto scored twice off Smyly in the fifth, cutting a 3-0 deficit to one, but the Rays answered with two runs against Danny Barnes in the sixth and pulled away with a four-run, bat-around seventh against Scott Feldman.The Blue Jays loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth but couldnt score. Troy Tulowitzki popped up Smylys first pitch, Michael Saunders struck out and Justin Smoak fouled out.Estrada (7-5) allowed three runs, two earned, and seven hits in five innings.I thought (Estrada) was a little bit off, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said.CROWD CONTROLRays OF Steven Souza Jr. tried leaping into the stands down the right field line to catch Tulowitzkis fly ball in the second, but collided with a fan in the front row. I thought I had a chance and then it was a little bit farther than I thought, Souza said.HIT THE SHOWERSRain briefly fell into the open stadium during the bottom of the fourth. The showers soon passed and the roof remained open throughout the game.TRAINERS ROOMBlue Jays: Toronto released LHP Franklin Morales. He went 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in four games before being designated for assignment last week. ... Barnes was optioned to Buffalo following the game.UP NEXTRays: LHP Blake Snell (3-4, 2.95) will face the Blue Jays for the first time. Snell has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his past five starts.Blue Jays: LHP J.A. Happ (15-3, 3.09) has won nine straight decisions and is unbeaten since an 11-0 loss at Detroit on June 6. Happ is 0-1 with a 7.98 ERA in three starts against the Rays this season. ' ' '