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DENVER -- A cold drizzle kept the tarp on the field and canceled batting practice Monday afternoon at Coors Field, cooling the bats and setting the stage for an uncharacteristic high-al ude pitchers' duel. With a crowd of 34,239 braving the elements in anticipation of fireworks -- both at the plate and in a postgame display -- the explosives were doused with buckets of clutch pitching in a game that remained scoreless through four before the lumber heated up enough for a 5-4 Cardinals victory.

Jason Marquis (6-3) had a one-hitter going into the fifth when Desi Relaford reached on right fielder Roger Cedeno's three-base error. Cedeno caught up to the fly ball on a hard run, catching it cleanly, but letting it dislodge from his glove as he fell and tumbled on the play. Relaford scored on another error when catcher Yadier Molina tried to pick him off at third but overthrew the bag, allowing Relaford to race home with the game's first run.

Payback came quickly for the Cardinals, who led off the sixth inning with an Albert Pujols double. Pujols advanced to third on a double-play grounder and scored when Relaford fielded Reggie Sanders' grounder to third, but threw well over Todd Helton's head at first, allowing Pujols to score the tying run.

The Rockies regained the lead with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, taking advantage of three walks and a run-scoring wild pitch from Marquis.

While mistakes accounted for three of the game's first four runs, the next three came courtesy of a mistake pitch to a dangerous slugger. Rockies reliever Jay Witasick yielded a two-out, three-run homer to Pujols that bounced off the top of the left-field fence and into the stands in the top of the seventh, giving the lead to the Cards.

Abraham Nunez provided a necessary insurance run in the eighth, knocking in Sanders with a double to left. The two-run cushion came in handy when the Rockies scored a second run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth to come within one. Jason Isringhausen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 15th save.

Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.