Colorado Rockies at St. Louis Cardinals

ST. LOUIS – Having given his team what it needed with two home runs, including one on Saturday night’s first pitch, Rockies leadoff man Jake McCarthy briefly thought of taking a little something for himself when he swung for the fences on the first pitch of his ninth-inning at-bat. But then he picked the proper fundamental way of helping assure his team of the 8-6 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. A homer is not a bad play. McCarthy had gone deep against Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore to start the night and had a two-run blast off Luis Gastelum in the sixth. So with one out in the ninth, McCarthy decided why not try for a third long ball against Peter Strzelecki with the Rockies leading by two runs? “I swung at a ball that almost hit me,” McCarthy said with a chuckle. But then McCarthy helped his team’s cause by bunting up the third-base line for a single – his fourth hit. McCarthy then stole second and eventually scored on Kyle Karros’ sacrifice fly for a three-run lead that made it just a little easier on closer Jordan Romano, who yielded a run in the bottom of the ninth but completed his 10th save of the season. So McCarthy ended his 4-for-5 night with the homers that improved his career-high total to 13, an infield hit in the three-run third, and two steals that helped lead to half of his four runs scored. “There are times maybe to be a little selfish,” he said of his one wild swing on an otherwise sound night. “But I think the game was calling \[for the bunt\