stlcardinals.com
March 1, 2003

Morris Sparkling In Spring Debut

By Matthew Leach

JUPITER, Fla. -- The Cardinals took their second consecutive 7-3 loss on Saturday, this time against the Marlins. Florida rapped 15 base hits against six different Cardinals pitchers.

Albert Pujols continued his strong spring with a two-run double to give St. Louis 2-0 first-inning lead, but that was the only lead the Redbirds held. Pujols has four RBIs in three Spring Training games.

Matt Morris held the lead for his two innings, looking very sharp in his first game of the spring. The St. Louis ace allowed one hit, striking out four batters. Unofficially, Morris threw 28 pitches, 20 of them for strikes.

Morris was followed by Rick Ankiel, who pitched a shutout third inning. Ankiel walked two batters but got out of trouble when Juan Pierre grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. It was the first game outing for the lefty since early last spring. He missed all of 2002 with elbow problems.

Josh Pearce took the loss. He allowed five runs on eight hits in two innings. Juan Encarnacion took Pearce deep to put Florida on the board in the fourth, then Ivan Rodriguez doubled and came around to score on a groundout.

The Marlins took the lead for good in the fifth inning on a strange sequence of hits. Andy Fox singled up the middle, then Luis Castillo singled off of Scott Rolen's glove. Juan Pierre reached on a bunt and Brian Banks recorded a bloop RBI single. Jason Wood drove in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly before Encarnacion singled off of the first base back to make it 5-2.

John Snyder and Nerio Rodriguez each gave up single runs, and the Cardinals cut it to a four-run deficit when Jose Nieves doubled in Miguel Cairo in the eighth. The same two teams play at 1:05 p.m. ET Sunday at Roger Dean Stadium, with the Marlins as the home team.