ST. LOUIS — As Cardinals left-hander Kwang Hyun Kim quested Wednesday for his first victory in 11 starts and in more than two months, he checked off a couple of firsts. His two-out drive over the head of Arizona left fielder Josh Rojas in the second inning was his first extra-base hit (he has only two hits overall in 16 at-bats) and accounted for his first two runs batted in as a major leaguer.
Kim, who connected off Riley Smith, drove in Yadier Molina and Edmundo Sosa, and provided the first two runs of the game. When he returned to the dugout after the inning, Kim was met by cheering teammates and one who bowed to the South Korean, Adam Wainwright.
Kim can take a bow now, too. He encountered traffic that included seven base runners in five innings. But he allowed just one to score as the Cardinals completed a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 7-4 victory that was Kim’s second of the season and first since April 23, the day he also got his first big league hit, an infield single.
Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O’Neill both had two doubles and a single and Yadier Molina had two hits on a day in which the Cardinals scored five of their seven runs with two-out hits, including the one by Kim, and others by Molina, Goldschmidt and Tommy Edman. All three of the Cardinals’ runs the night before had come with two outs as the lineup is beginning to show some situational hitting form.
The Cardinals finished the first half of their schedule with a 40-41 mark after their fourth win in five games. Arizona, which has lost an astonishing 28 of its past 29 road games, finished June with a 3-24 record, which is only slightly worse than their 5-24 record in May.
Kim fanned five, walked three and hit one, but his pitch count had risen to 95 at the end of five innings and he gave way to a succession of relievers, including John Gant, who had two scoreless innings, and Alex Reyes, who posted his 20th save in 20 tries.
Arizona’s first run came in the third as Asdrubal Cabrera’s two-out single scored Josh Rojas from second.
But Goldschmidt hit his second double of the game and a one-out single by O’Neill scored Goldschmidt from third and the Cardinals had their two-run lead restored in the home third. Then, they added another as O’Neill stole second, went to third on catcher Daulton Varsho’s throwing error and came home as Molina stroked his second single of the game to right field.
Goldschmidt’s third hit of the game, another two-out single in the fifth, brought home Sosa, who had reached base on catcher’s interference and advanced on Kim’s sacrifice.
O’Neill doubled and scored on a forceout grounder by Edman in the seventh.
Roel Ramirez, whose only previous big league appearance resulted in four consecutive home runs allowed to the Chicago White Sox in his one inning in 2020, did better on Wednesday. A little. He didn’t allow any homers but he did walk two and permit a base hit to load the bases with one out in the eighth before being relieved by Ryan Helsley.
Helsley, who had permitted only one of 17 inherited runners to score, allowed all three to come home this time on a walk, a wild pitch and a groundout. And Ramirez’s career ERA still is 81.00.
Ramirez also was late in covering first on a potential double play after first baseman Goldschmidt had fielded a smash and thrown to second for the one out Ramirez got.
Reyes restored order with a perfect ninth.
