Win: Smith (5-2)
Loss: Broxton (1-3)
Save: Rodriguez (26)
HR: Herrera (5), Davis 2 (11), Carpenter (17)
The boxscore shows Jimmy Nelson pitching seven innings of eight-hit ball and allowing four earned runs. Which would be a fairly innocuous outing. However, he had been having a great day until a three-run homer from Matt Carpenter in the seventh. Through his first six innings, he'd allowed a run on just five hits while striking out seven batters.
You can't write off the seventh inning, of course, but that's OK. The final numbers aren't going to matter terribly much, but the fact that he had been dominating the Cardinals offense for most of the day is a positive sign, and positive signs are what we're looking for this season.