DENVER (AP) - Matt Adams homered and drove in two runs, Matt Holliday had three hits, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to beat the Colorado Rockies 9-6 on Wednesday.
Drew Stubbs homered, and Justin Morneau had two hits for the Rockies, who finished their homestand 1-5.
The game featured the major league debuts of both starting pitchers. St. Louis' Marco Gonzales was sharp early before faltering. Colorado's Yohan Flande also started well before getting hit hard in his last inning.
Pat Neshek (2-0) pitched an inning in relief to earn the win. Trevor Rosenthal got four outs for his 23rd save in 26 chances.
The Cardinals scored twice in the eighth off Adam Ottavino (0-2) on RBI doubles by Daniel Descalso and Matt Carpenter to take a win away from Flande.
St. Louis added two more runs in the ninth on two of the club's four sacrifice flies.
Rosenthal walked two batters in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate. He struck out Troy Tulowitzki on a 100-mph fastball, the 11th pitch of the at-bat, before Morneau flew out to center to end it.
Pitching near where he was an all-state player for Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, Colorado, from 2007-10, Gonzales was unhittable the first time through the Rockies order.
At one point he threw 12 straight strikes, and 30 of his first 37 pitches were strikes. He had only one blemish, a one-out walk to DJ LeMahieu in the second.
Things unraveled for him in the fourth.
Stubbs hit the first pitch of the inning into the seats in left to tie it 1-1. After Tulowitzki fouled out, the next five batters reached base. Corey Dickerson had a two-run double and scored on LeMahieu's single, and Josh Rutledge came home on Flande's groundout that made it 5-1.
Flande is the fourth starting pitcher this month to make his major league debut for the Rockies. Injuries to the staff forced the call-ups but two of those pitchers - Eddie Butler and Christian Bergman - are now injured.
Flande allowed just one run through the first four innings but the Cardinals rallied for three in the fifth. Mark Ellis scored on a sacrifice fly, and Adams followed Holliday's double with his third home run of the series to make it 5-4.
Flande was touched for four runs and six hits, and he struck out four in five innings.
Gonzales also pitched five innings. He allowed five runs and seven hits, and struck out three.
NOTES: The Cardinals designated SS Pete Kozma for assignment and moved RHP Joe Kelly (left hamstring strain) to the 60-day DL. ... The Rockies placed Bergman (fractured left wrist) on the 60-day DL. ... Butler (right rotator cuff inflammation) will be shut down for six days before he begins throwing again. ... St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (10-3, 2.08) will open a four-game series at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday. Colorado LHP Christian Friedrich (0-1, 6.00) will pitch the first of the Rockies' four-game set at Milwaukee on Thursday.
Related video: