Phillies beat Cardinals, deny Wainwright's 15th

[July 23, 2010]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Placido Polanco homered leading off the 11th inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies survived another poor offensive showing with a 2-0 victory that ended the St. Louis Cardinals' eight-game winning streak and averted a four-game sweep on Thursday.

Cole Hamels allowed one hit in eight innings, a solid single by Matt Holliday leading off the fourth, in 91-degree heat and high humidity.

The Phillies lefty opened with five straight strikeouts and faced one batter above the minimum -- none until the eighth -- when he walked Yadier Molina on a 3-1 pitch with two outs and then struck out Brendan Ryan. 

Four relievers did not allow a hit over the final three innings to finish the one-hitter.

Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright missed a chance to match Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez as the majors' lone 15-game winners, striking out six and scattering six hits in six scoreless innings. Wainwright has worked 25 consecutive scoreless innings his last four starts and lowered his ERA to 1.94.

Brad Lidge finished for his eighth save in 11 chances as the Phillies won for just the second time in eight games since the All-Star break, outhitting St. Louis 12-1 but going 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

The Cardinals went 7-1 on their first homestand after the break and outscored opponents 46-17 during their longest winning streak since 2004. Still, they haven't swept the Phillies in a four-game series at home since 1986.

Polanco hit his sixth homer and first since May 9 on a 1-1 pitch from Kyle McClellan (1-3), who hadn't allowed a run at home in 20 games covering 25 innings. It was the third hit for Polanco, whose 12-game hitting streak ended Wednesday.

Polanco has batted leadoff the last two games, with slumping Jimmy Rollins moving to sixth in the Phillies' order. Rollins was 1 for 4 for the second straight day.

Jayson Werth added an RBI double off Fernando Salas.

Chad Durbin (2-1) struck out Albert Pujols and got Holliday on a tapper to end the 10th.

Aaron Miles, Colby Rasmus, Pujols, Holliday and Allen Craig all went down swinging against Hamels before Molina bounced out to third to end the second.

Hamels retired 12 in a row before Holliday singled on a 1-1 pitch to start the fifth. He was quickly erased on a double play when center fielder Shane Victorino made a running catch on Craig's shallow pop fly with his glove on the grass, and made an easy relay to first.

Werth scooped another ball near the turf with a sliding grab in right field the next at-bat against Molina, and replays showed Werth tapping the ball back into his mitt as he rolled.

Wainwright passed Hamels with his sixth strikeout when he fanned Ryan Howard for the second out in the sixth.

NOTES: Howard, who is from St. Louis, had three singles and is a career .388 hitter with eight homers and 31 RBIs in 21 games at 5-year-old Busch Stadium. ... Pujols is 3 for 20 with two RBIs against Hamels. ... Werth is batting .157 with runners in scoring position. ... Greg Dobbs struck out as a pinch hitter and is 3 for 31 in that role.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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