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 Aaron Miles tied it with a two-run single in the eighth and Ryan Ludwick homered for the third time in two games for the Cardinals, who took two of three from the AL East leaders and wrapped up a 3-3 homestand. Rays pitchers issued 10 walks, eight in the last three innings, while losing only their second series in the last eight.
Rookie Chris Perez (1-0) retired the bottom of the Rays' order in only five pitches in the ninth.
Gary Glover (0-2) walked .132-hitting Jason LaRue to start the bottom of the ninth and Cesar Izturis reached on an infield hit with one out before Schumaker lofted a drive over the head of left fielder Carl Crawford. Glover has allowed four runs on seven hits in 2 2-3 innings in four appearances since coming off the 15-day disabled list from shoulder tendinitis.
Crawford homered and Edwin Jackson ran a scoreless innings streak to 20 before giving up a run while striking out a season-best seven for the Rays. Tampa Bay doubled seven times, one off the franchise record, but squandered a 3-0 lead after five.
Eric Hinske and B.J. Upton drove in a run apiece and the Rays doubled seven times, one off the franchise record.
It was the second straight walk-off victory for the Cardinals. Schumaker has the deciding hit in four of the last 13 victories, including a game-winning 11th-inning homer against the Cubs on May 2.
Ludwick homered off Dan Wheeler for the second straight game, connecting on both pitches he saw from the reliever. Ludwick, who has 11 homers in 119 at-bats, hit a game-winning shot off a hanging slider on Saturday, and he lined a fastball into the visitor's bullpen to left leading off the seventh to cut the gap to 3-2.
Crawford hit his fourth homer off Mike Parisi leading off the eighth to briefly restore the Rays' two-run cushion. Miles' tying hit came off Trever Miller with one out in the eighth.
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The Cardinals left the bases loaded in the fifth, sixth and eighth, scoring one in the sixth and two in the eighth. Troy Glaus struck out to end the fifth and Albert Pujols tapped into a force play in the sixth. Paid attendance of 46,392 was the sixth sellout for the Cardinals, who sold out every game their first two seasons at new Busch Stadium.
St. Louis matched a season high with 16 runners left on bases, their third double-digit figure of the homestand. The Cardinals lead the major leagues by a wide margin in runners stranded.
Jackson totaled 15 scoreless innings in two previous starts, but Troy Percival blew the save each time, and this time the Rays' bullpen coughed up the lead in the eighth. Jackson walked four of the last nine hitters he faced and left after throwing 97 pitches in 5 1-3 innings.
Kyle Lohse, who had been something of a question mark after skipping his bullpen session due to tightness in the back of his throwing shoulder, worked six solid innings for St. Louis.
Lohse allowed three runs, two earned, in his best start of a shaky May after going 3-0 with a 2.36 ERA in April.
[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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