Ankiel helps power Cards
04/03/2008
April 2, 2008 -- Cardinals center fielder Rick Ankiel dives for a fly ball hit by Colorados Willy Taveras for the first out of the third inning.
Rick Ankiel accomplished something Wednesday night unseen in his three seasons as a major-league starting pitcher. He crafted a complete game.
Ankiel's outing, together with Todd Wellemeyer's five innings, right fielder Ryan Ludwick's three-RBI game and a passable bullpen effort helped hold off the Colorado Rockies 8-3 in front of an announced crowd of 39,915 at wind-chilled Busch Stadium.
Wednesday's crowd represented the first time new Busch has failed to sell out. The game offered a show of versatility by a 28-year-old center fielder appearing in only his 49th major league game as a position player. It also suggested further development within Ankiel's reincarnated career.
"A complete game would be the perfect description," said manager Tony La Russa. "What else would you want to call it?"
Effective but not necessarily efficient on 95 pitches spread over five innings, Wellemeyer held the Rockies to right fielder Brad Hawpe's bases-empty homer. Local sensation Kyle McClellan followed to get five consecutive groundouts before allowing a two-out RBI single in the seventh to make it a 4-2 game.
"He's tough enough," La Russa said about Wellemeyer's 12th major league start. "He's learning all the time. When he pitches we win a lot of the time."
Ludwick tripled to score Schumaker in the fifth inning. Third baseman Troy Glaus delivered his first RBI for the Cardinals on a fly ball to right. Frustrated for much of spring, Ludwick delivered three hits.
"I started feeling better toward the end of spring," said Ludwick, estimating he may have lost "five or six" home runs last month hitting into a pitcher's wind. "My timing started getting better. I started seeing the ball better. I put better swings on the ball."
STLtoday - Ankiel helps power Cards