Thompson’s career day leads Cardinals past Rockies 3-0

By R.B. FALLSTROM, AP Sports Writer 41 minutes ago

ST. LOUIS (AP)—Brad Thompson had a career-high six strikeouts in 6 2-3 innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 3-0 Thursday.

The Cardinals took two of three from the defending NL champions, who totaled five runs in the series. Colorado was 3-for-25 with runners in scoring position, two of the hits coming in the finale, but Todd Helton was thrown out at the plate in the sixth.

Thompson (1-0), a sinkerball specialist and swingman who’s in the rotation while the Cardinals await several injured starters, walked two and allowed six hits. He also had his first career RBI.

Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1) was in trouble throughout a five-inning stint, allowing three runs and seven hits. He walked five, struck out four and threw two wild pitches.

Rick Ankiel and Troy Glaus had RBI singles in the third as the Cardinals opened the inning with four straight base hits. Thompson, a career .176 hitter with 16 strikeouts in 34 at-bats after fanning his first two trips, singled in a run in the fifth after Jimenez issued two-out walks to Ryan Ludwick and Jason LaRue.


1.
Colorado 0
St. Louis 0
Mon, Mar 31 - Ppd.
2.
Colorado 2
St. Louis 1
Tue, Apr 1 - Final
3.
Colorado 3
St. Louis 8
Wed, Apr 2 - Final
4.
Colorado 0
St. Louis 3
Thu, Apr 3 - Final

Anthony Reyes, who made the team as a reliever after going 2-14 last year, struck out the top of the Rockies lineup in order in the eighth and Jason Isringhausen earned his first save.

Albert Pujols wrapped up a 5-for-10, three-walk series with two hits for the Cardinals, whose string of 165 consecutive regular-season sellouts ended with an announced attendance of 39,915 Wednesday night. The crowd was listed at 33,748 for the series finale at new Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006.

Matt Holliday was 1-for-10 in the season-opening series for the Rockies. Before this week he had been a .483 hitter (14-for-29) in two-plus seasons at Busch with five homers and seven RBIs.