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 Eventually, the final bell rang, and it was the Cardinals who
landed the most punches, beating the Angels 12-10 Thursday night at
Angel Stadium and completing a three-game sweep.
The Angels (13-21) lost their sixth in a row, all at home, their
first six-game home skid since 2011. The Cardinals (19-16) improved
to a season-best three games over .500.
The teams combined for 33 hits, 18 by the Cardinals. Matt Holliday
let the St. Louis attack with four hits, including two home runs.
Matt Carpenter had two hits, including a three-run homer in the
fifth inning that gave St. Louis the lead for good.
Every Cardinals batter in the starting lineup had at least one hit.
Matt Adams had three hits and three RBIs, and Yadier Molina added
two singles, a double and a walk.
"We swung the bats really well," Holliday said of the Cardinals'
offense, which scored 25 runs in the three-game set. "A lot of hard
hits, a lot of extra-base hits, it's fun. It's fun as an offense to
come in and kind of feed off each other."
 As prolific as the Cardinals' offense was, St. Louis needed nearly
every run because the Angels had a rare night of offense as well.
Los Angeles scored more runs Thursday than in its previous five
games combined (eight).
Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (3-3) was hit hard but got the win
despite giving up seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits and one walk in
five innings.
"All of us know that he's just some sort of minor adjustment away
from being the guy we expect him to be," Holliday said of
Wainwright. "He's going to throw seven, eight, nine innings of
shutout baseball. He's just one of those guys that you know when
things are right and he gets his rhythm, he'll be who he is. He's
the least of my worries; he's one small adjustment from being
dominant."
Angels starter Jered Weaver (3-2) was beat up even more than
Wainwright, giving up eight runs on nine hits in four-plus innings,
all of the damage against him coming in the fourth and fifth
innings.
Weaver retired the first 11 batters before Holliday homered with two
outs in the fourth, and the pounding was just getting started.
Beginning with Holliday's homer, Weaver gave up nine hits in the
span of 10 at-bats, including two homers to Holliday and Carpenter's
three-run blast.
"He just missed some spots," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said.
"They have a strong lineup, no doubt, and I thought the first time
through (the lineup) he did a really good job of hitting spots. But
then he started to miss with some pitches in the fourth and fifth
innings, and those guys didn't miss the pitches."
The Angels' offense finished with 15 hits, including two each from
Yunel Escobar, Daniel Nava, C.J. Cron, Cliff Pennington, Kole
Calhoun and Albert Pujols.
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Los Angeles made things interesting in the ninth, getting an RBI
single from Calhoun and a two-run homer by Pujols off reliever Seth
Maness.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny then summoned closer Trevor
Rosenthal, who walked the next three hitters in a row, loading the
bases with one out.
Matheny had seen enough, and he replaced Rosenthal with Kevin
Siegrist, who struck out Carlos Perez and got pinch hitter Shane
Robinson on a foul popup for his first save of the season.
"There were some things tonight that were frustrating, for sure, but
the comeback wasn't," Scioscia said. "The fact that we came back and
were on the brink I think says a lot about the heart in that
clubhouse. You can tell a lot about people when things aren't going
the right way, and right now, things aren't going the right way for
us."
Pujols' two-run homer in the ninth was his first home run against
his former team, meaning he has now homered against all 30 of the
current major league clubs.
NOTES: The Angels' starting lineup consisted of five players whose
batting average was below .200 -- DH Albert Pujols (.185), LF Daniel
Nava (.192), 2B Johnny Giavotella (.197), C Carlos Perez (.159) and
SS Cliff Pennington (.182). Only one -- CF Mike Trout at .303 -- was
above .300. ... Cardinals CF Randal Grichuk was drafted by the
Angels with the 24th overall pick in the 2009 draft, one ahead of
Angels CF Mike Trout. They made their professional debuts together
in the Angels' minor league system and were roommates. Injuries
slowed Grichuk's development as Trout swiftly reached the big
leagues in 2011. Grichuk ultimately was traded to the Cardinals
along with OF Peter Bourjos in the deal for 3B David Freese and RHP
Fernando Salas. ... Angels RHP Mike Morin has not allowed a hit in
his past 11 games (10 inning). It is the second longest no-hit
streak in Angels history, behind RHP Ernesto Frieri's run of 13
games in 2012. ... Cardinals OF Tommy Pham, out since April 3 with
an oblique strain, had his rehab assignment transferred to Double-A
Springfield. Pham was the Cardinals' Opening Day starter in left
field but was injured in the first inning.
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