ST. LOUIS -- Two sloppy losses to the last-place Marlins tensed the Cardinals' dugout this week, sparked a series of terse conversations in the rooms behind it and eventually seeped into their manager's public comments. His frustration frothing over his club's lack of fundamental play, Mike Matheny promised "a better brand of baseball" from the postgame podium late Wednesday night.
Not 12 hours later, it arrived. St. Louis salvaged the finale of a three-game set with a clinical 4-1 win over the Marlins on Thursday in front of a crowd of 41,297 at Busch Stadium. Jose Martinez's two-run homer opened the scoring in the first, and Luke Voit added a pinch-hit shot in the seventh in support of Miles Mikolas.