St. Louis Cardinals hold off Colorado Rockies in 7-5 win

Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Cardinals held off the Colorado Rockies for a win on Friday, despite allowing five runs in the fifth inning.

St. Louis pulled off the 7-5 victory at Coors Field in Denver. The teams played a scoreless first frame before the Cardinals took control in the top of the second inning.

Tyler O'Neill began the inning by smashing a solo home run off of Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela. Paul DeJong followed with a ground out, before Senzatela walked Jedd Gyorko. Kolten Wong then got on with a single before Harrison Bader struck out.

Miles Mikolas plated Wong with a two-run homer, giving the Cardinals a 4-0 edge. Neither team could plate a run for the next two innings before both squads ignited in the fifth frame.

Yadier Molina began the inning with a single. Jose Martinez followed with another single, before O'Neill plated Molina with an RBI double. Gyorko brought in Martinez on another double in the inning, before Wong plated O'Neill with a sacrifice fly, giving the Cardinals a 7-0 lead.

The Rockies finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning. Gerardo Parra singled to start the inning. Charlie Blackmon brought in Parra with his 23rd homer of the season. David Dahl followed with a ground out, before Nolan Arenando hit a solo homer to left center field.

Carlos Gonzalez and Trevor Story connected on back-to-back singles, before Ian Desmond brought in Gonzalez with a force out grounder. Ryan McMahon plated the Rockies' final run with a single to left field.

The Rockies had 15 hits in the loss, while the Cardinals had 11 hits. Wong was 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored in the win. Carlos Martinez picked up the win in relief for the Cardinals. Bud Norris earned a save for his late game efforts.

St. Louis battles Colorado in the second game of the three-game series at 8:10 p.m. Saturday in Denver.