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Cards Power Up For Their First Victory Of The Season;
Vina Goes 5-for-5
Rick Hummel of the Post-Dispatch
April 8, 2001
The Cardinals, who had been thumped in their first three games of the season in Colorado, found a new venue more to their liking Friday night when they rode an eight-run fifth inning to their first victory of the season, 12-9 over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals had 18 hits, five by Fernando Vina, and needed most of them. Rookie Albert Pujols had three hits, including his first big-league homer, and Craig Paquette had his first homer of the season among three hits.
Ray Lankford tripled home three runs in the fifth, and starter Dustin Hermanson was one of three players to have two hits in that inning.
Hermanson, unbeaten in four previous decisions against the Diamondbacks, was making his first appearance for the Cardinals. He fell behind 2-0 in the third.
Hermanson hit Tony Womack in the chest with a 1-2 pitch with two out. He also got ahead of Mark Grace at 1-2, but then the former Chicago Cub planted his first Diamondbacks homer into the right-field seats.
The Cardinals tied the score in the fourth on Pujols' homer. Pujols, who had been fed a steady diet of breaking pitches, jumped on a 1-2 hanger and sent it into the left-field seats. His homer followed a one-out single by Lankford.
But Diamondbacks starter Armando Reynoso, who hit only .104 (five for 48) last season, got those runs back himself in the Arizona fourth.
Jay Bell doubled high off the center-field wall with one out. Hermanson fanned David Delucci, and manager Tony La Russa ordered eighth-place hitter Damian Miller walked. But Reynoso, who didn't have a double or a run batted in last year, rapped Hermanson's high first pitch into left- field for a two-run double.
Perhaps Reynoso wore himself out in this endeavor as the Cardinals hit Reynoso and Mike Morgan for their eight runs in the fifth.
Three players - Paquette, Hermanson and Vina - had two hits in the inning.
Paquette cut the margin in half with his homer to left center. Hermanson, who had two doubles last year, shot one off the right-center-field wall and then stopped at third as Vina served a single to left for his third hit.
Edgar Renteria fanned, but J.D. Drew walked to load the bases. Lankford, enjoying his third consecutive multihit game, laid off a close 2-2 pitch, fouled off a tough full- count offering and then plugged the gap in left-center with his triple to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead.
Pujols greeted Morgan with his third hit, a double, scoring Lankford. John Mabry flied out but Mike Matheny singled home a run. Paquette singled for his second hit of the inning and Hermanson, who had eight hits all last season, also stroked his second hit, driving in a run.
Vina's fourth single capped the eight-run inning. The record for players having two hits in an inning, incidentally, is seven by the 1989 Cincinnati Reds against Houston.
Hermanson was the first Cardinals pitcher to have two hits in an inning since Kent Mercker on July 19, 1999, against Minnesota at Busch Stadium.
Hermanson may have been tuckered out, though, with his baserunning exploits.
The Diamondbacks struck back for two runs in their fifth, an inning cut short when center fielder Drew and shortstop Renteria both uncorked strong relays to cut down Bell, who tried to follow Steve Finley home on Delucci's double.
Mike James relieved for the Cardinals in the sixth and was helped by third baseman Paquette and second baseman Vina, who turned a nifty double play.
Vina tied his career high with his fifth hit, a two-run triple in the deepest part of right center field in the seventh.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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