CARDINALS 5, MARLINS 4
at Jupiter, Fla.
Wednesday, March 5

Marlins at the plate: Hanley Ramirez connected on his first homer of the spring, crushing a three-run blast to left-center off Adam Wainwright with two outs in the second inning. Ramirez went 2-for-3 with a walk. Alfredo Amezaga added two singles.

Cardinals at the plate: Skip Schumaker's two-run triple in the seventh inning gave St. Louis the lead. The shot to right-center off Eulogio De La Cruz came after a pair of walks and a sacrifice bunt. In the fourth inning, the Cardinals scored three runs. Amaury Marti's second single of the game drove in the first run. Brendan Ryan collected an RBI when he was plunked by a pitch, and Colby Rasmus' fielder's-choice RBI tied it at 3.

Marlins on the mound: Ricky Nolasco turned in an encouraging start, throwing three scoreless innings and allowing one hit. The right-hander, who is enriching his chances of earning a rotation spot, walked one and struck out one. He threw 51 pitches, 32 of them for strikes. Prospect Dallas Trahern gave up three runs on two hits, while walking two and hitting a batter, in the fourth inning.

Cardinals on the mound: Wainwright surrendered the three-run homer to Ramirez in the second inning. All three runs were unearned, because with two outs Alejandro De Aza reached on Brendan Harris' error at short. Wainwright also was struck by a comeback single by Alfredo Amezaga in the second. He was looked at by the trainer, said he was fine and he completed the inning. Wainwright worked three innings and posted 60 pitches, with 39 strikes. Jaime Garcia was impressive in three scoreless innings, surrendering one hit and one walk while striking out two. Of his 38 pitches, 23 were for strikes. Cards pitchers were assisted by catcher Jason LaRue, who threw out all three runners trying to steal off him.

Grapefruit League records: Marlins 6-3-1, Cardinals 3-5

Up next: On Thursday the Marlins and Cardinals hook up once again. This time St. Louis will be the home team. Aaron Thompson (0-0, 4.50 ERA) takes the hill for Florida, while the Cardinals are going with Todd Wellemeyer (0-0, 0.00).