Rockies beat Cardinals, snap 12-game losing streak in St. Louis

The Rockies have had a nasty case of the Redbird flu, seemingly forever. They snapped out of it in a big way Friday night.

Riding a bounce-back start from right-hander Chris Flexen, and beating up Adam Wainwright early and often, the Rockies beat the Cardinals, 9-4, at Busch Stadium. It was Colorado’s first win in St. Louis since July 31, 2018, snapping a string of 12 consecutive losses at Busch.

Wainwright, who’s retiring at the end of the season, was facing Colorado for the final time in his storied career.

Friday night, he was just a shadow of the pitcher who had dominated the Rockies for so long. Colorado battered the 41-year-old right-hander for seven runs on nine hits in three innings, leaving him with a 7.81 ERA.

Remarkably, it was the right-hander’s first loss to Colorado since June 5, 2009. Wainwright entered the game with a 12-1 record and 1.38 ERA vs. the Rockies, the highest winning percentage and lowest career ERA of any pitcher against the Rockies with at least 75 innings pitched. The Cardinals entered the night 15-3 in the 18 career games Wainwright had appeared in vs. Colorado.

Colorado got production throughout the order — all nine position players got a hit — and rookie outfielder Nolan Jones had an especially good night. He hit 4 for 5 and boosted his average to .284.

“We talked about staying in the middle of the field and not trying to get too big,” Jones told AT&T SportsNet in St. Louis. “We had good at-bats and we weren’t chasing (Wainwright’s) curveball too much.”

Jones had three RBIs, driving in a run with a double off Wainwright in the first and a single in the second. He collected his third RBI with a single in the fourth off lefty Andrew Suarez.

Flexen gave up three runs and scattered 10 hits over five innings. Hardly dominant, but he pulled off a 180-degree turn from his unsightly Rockies debut at Coors Field last Saturday when he allowed six runs (five earned) on four hits in an 11-3 loss to Oakland. Worse, he issued a career-high six batters and also hit a batter.

Flexen didn’t walk any Friday night, though he did serve up a solo homer to Nolan Arenado in the second and a solo blast to Nolan Gorman in the fifth.

“The control is in his game and if you look at his track record, the walk rate is pretty solid,” manager Bud Black told reporters. “That was something we highlighted in our conversations this week. We said, ‘Hey, let’s get back to throwing strikes.’ ”

“Although I didn’t think he was crisp overall with his command tonight, he did throw strikes.”