"Ace" Ian Kennedy was rocked hard over the first three innings on Wednesday evening, allowing nine earned runs before being yanked. No amount of grit in all of Major League Baseball would have saved the Arizona Diamondbacks in game three of their series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Snakes have now lost two of their first three complete series.
The apex of Kennedy's struggles was a Lance Berkman grand slam in the second inning that made it 8-0, Cardinals. Kennedy's initial relief wasn't any better, as Aaron Heilman -- once in consideration for a spot in the starting rotation -- allowed St. Louis' other six runs (all earned) over the fourth and fifth innings, including a three-run homer run from Skip Schumaker.
The Diamondbacks, running high on the gritometer from manager Kirk Gibson's Tuesday night ejection, couldn't do much with the hole their pitching put them in, though they did manage five runs that included a two-run homer from Russell Branyan. Chris Young, Miguel Montera, and Melvin Mora notched RBIs, as well.
On the positive side, Juan Gutierrez came out of the bullpen, pitched for two innings, and didn't give up a boatload of runs, breaking the trend of his past two games. As a whole, the bullpen (outside of Heilman) did alright, denying any runs over the final four innings.
The Diamondbacks will face the defending champion San Francisco Giants at home, starting on Friday, and will hope that their starting pitching will give more than it had taken away against St. Louis.