Cardinals beat Athletics 6-4 behind Holliday

[June 19, 2010]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Matt Holliday homered and drove in three runs in his first successful night in the No. 2 slot, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Oakland Athletics 6-4 on Friday.

Skip Schumaker drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh as St. Louis manager Tony La Russa improved to 6-1 against his old team. Schumaker had three hits and scored three times.

Albert Pujols, a major league-best .352 hitter in interleague play for his career, singled in a run and walked twice for St. Louis, which has won three of four overall. Chris Carpenter (8-1) gave up four runs in the second, matching his season worst, but none in his other six innings.

Rajai Davis matched his career high with four hits and drove in a run for the Athletics, who have lost six of seven. Conor Jackson had two hits and two RBIs.

Holliday hit a two-run homer to straightaway center against Vin Mazzaro in the first -- ending a 43 at-bat RBI drought -- but the Athletics jumped on Carpenter in the second. The big hit was a two-run double by Jackson, with Davis and Kurt Suzuki also driving in a run.

Holliday and Pujols hit RBI singles in consecutive at-bats in the fifth, tying it at 4. Holliday's bloop single barely cleared the infield, finding a hole between shortstop Cliff Pennington and a charging Jackson in left.

Holliday began the year as the cleanup hitter but was moved up to second on Monday, his third spot in the lineup this season. He was 2 for 11 over his first three games and struck out on a ball in the dirt with the go-ahead run on third in the eighth inning on Wednesday.

Even after the big day, he is sixth on the team with 28 RBIs.

Carpenter allowed a season-high 10 hits but Oakland had no runners in scoring position in its last five innings against the right-hander.

Schumaker hit an RBI double and Ryan Ludwick added a run-scoring single against Brad Ziegler (2-4) in the seventh.

Ryan Franklin finished for his 13th save in 14 chances.

The Cardinals and Athletics are meeting for the third time in interleague play, which has not diminished La Russa's enthusiasm for facing the team he managed from 1986-95. La Russa lives in northern California, about a half-hour drive from Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

"A lot of good memories," La Russa said. "I still live there, as opposed to living here."

Davis has four straight multihit games, going 11 for 19, and is batting .386 during a 10-game hitting streak (17 for 45).

NOTES: Cardinals SS Brendan Ryan, a big Lakers fan, hung an L.A. jersey with his No. 13 in his locker before the game. Batting ninth, Ryan doubled, walked and scored twice. ... Cardinals Hall of Famer Lou Brock was honored on his 71st birthday.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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