Wainwright, home runs lead Cardinals over Arizona

[September 03, 2008]  PHOENIX (AP) -- Adam Wainwright helped himself by doubling in two runs, and Troy Glaus hit one of St. Louis' three homers Tuesday night in an 8-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Yadier Molina and Felipe Lopez hit back-to-back shots to give Wainwright an early 5-0 lead. That made it seven home runs in two games for the Cardinals against the Diamondbacks.

Arizona's NL West lead was sliced to 1 1/2 games over the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers. St. Louis is 5 1/2 back of Milwaukee in the wild-card race.

On Monday, the Diamondbacks rallied from four runs down to win 8-6. This time the deficit reached 8-0, and there was no big comeback.

Wainwright (8-3), in his third start since returning from 2 1/2 months on the disabled list, shut out the Diamondbacks through five before giving up a run in the sixth. He struck out seven and walked two, yielding three hits in 5 1-3 innings.

Wainwright returned 10 days ago after being sidelined since June 8 with a right middle finger sprain. He is 2-0 in three starts since.

Five Cardinals relievers, including Chris Carpenter, finished the seven-hitter.

Yusmeiro Petit (3-4) gave up five runs and four hits in 4 2-3 innings, the fourth Arizona starting pitcher in a row to have a rough outing.

Glaus, 2-for-13 through four games of a six-game road trip, was moved up to the No. 2 spot in the batting order, just ahead of Albert Pujols, by manager Tony La Russa to try to get the big slugger going.

It worked. Glaus singled in the first, then lined Petit's 2-1 pitch into the left-field stands. His 22nd home run put St. Louis up 2-0 in the third.

The Cardinals added three in the fourth on consecutive homers by Molina and Lopez.

With no outs in the sixth, the Diamondbacks intentionally walked Lopez to get to Wainwright, who lined a double down the left-field line on the first pitch to make it 7-0.

Arizona scored in the sixth on an RBI single by David Eckstein after Jeff Salazar tripled.

After going 5-for-5 and hitting for the cycle on Monday, Arizona's Stephen Drew went 0-for-4.

Notes: Arizona OF Justin Upton was a late scratch from the lineup because of a headache. He was hit behind the ear Monday on a pickoff attempt by the Cardinals' Brad Thompson. ... The Diamondbacks have allowed 28 runs in their last four games, all at home. ... Carpenter came on in the seventh for St. Louis, his first relief appearance since Oct. 1, 2000, and threw a scoreless inning despite giving up two hits. He had been out since Aug. 10 with a right shoulder sprain.

[Associated Press; By BOB BAUM]

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