JJ Wetherholt breaks the tie, powers Cardinals past Rockies

Rookie JJ Wetherholt lined a tiebreaking two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday afternoon, keying the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-4 victory against the visiting Colorado Rockies.

Wetherholt finished 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs for the Cardinals, who won for the fifth time in seven games to pull back to .500 overall.

Ivan Herrera had his second career four-hit game and drove in an eighth-inning insurance run for St. Louis, which remained 3 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the second of three NL wild-card spots. The Phillies visit St. Louis for a three-game series starting Monday night.

Alec Burleson hit his 19th homer for the Cardinals, who also got multi-hit games from Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker and Nathan Church.

Riley O'Brien recorded his 29th save with a 1-2-3 ninth, getting help from newcomer Everson Pereira, who made a diving catch in left field to rob T.J. Rumfield for the last out.

Hunter Goodman hit his 34th home run for the Rockies, a solo shot in the seventh against George Soriano that tied the score. Soriano (5-3) blew his seventh save but picked up the victory.

Backup catcher Brett Sullivan hit his fifth home run, a two-run shot against right-hander Michael McGreevy, to bring the Rockies within a run in the sixth.

Colorado, which has the worst record in the National League, has lost five of six.

Winn led off the bottom of the eighth with a hard single to center against right-hander Tanner Gordon (0-3). Church went opposite field for a single to left, and Jose Fermin laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt on the next pitch, putting both runners in scoring position.

Bryan Torres struck out on three pitches, but Wetherholt jumped on the first pitch from left-hander Parker Mushinski, sending it over the head of Cole Carrigg in center field. Carrigg bobbled the ball for an error when he tried picking it up, allowing Wetherholt to reach third easily.

Herrera followed with an RBI single against Mushinski, who picked up his first major league victory the night before.

Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen gave up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. McGreevy went 5 2/3 innings for St. Louis, yielding three runs on eight hits.