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Beltran lifts Cardinals past Phillies

Apr 19, 2013 - 4:40 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Carlos Beltran's opposite-field solo home run off Mike Adams in the eighth inning gave the St. Louis Cardinals a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

Yadier Molina went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI, while Adam Wainwright (3-1), coming off a four-hit shutout of the Brewers, scattered nine hits and three runs over seven innings to pick up the win.

"He did a good job of establishing his fastball today," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Wainwright. "When he can locate his fastball, good things tend to happen."

St. Louis had lost two of three coming in but did just enough to get by a Phillies club that has dropped four in a row after getting swept by the Cincinnati Reds.

Freddy Galvis and Chase Utley each had two hits and knocked in a run for Philadelphia, which lost despite recording 13 hits. Adams (0-1) took the loss behind Cole Hamels, who struck out eight and allowed five hits and three runs in seven frames.

"We had baserunners all night. Of course at the end, we couldn't score the big run. We had some good chances, just couldn't cash in on them. That's the best we hit in a while," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Beltran's homer, on a 2-1 pitch on the outside corner, found the first row of seats in the left field bleachers and broke a 3-3 tie.

Edward Mujica struck out pinch-hitter Laynce Nix on three pitches to strand two runners in the home half of the eighth, and got out of a jam in the ninth to record his first save of the season. With runners on second and third, the reliever fanned Jimmy Rollins for the second out, then got Galvis on a groundout to escape with the win.

Hamels found trouble in the fourth when he issued a leadoff walk to Matt Holliday and gave up a double to Allen Craig. Molina sliced the first pitch he saw down the right-field line, and although replay appeared to show the ball narrowly bouncing in foul territory, it was ruled fair and both baserunners scored on the double.

Wainwright's 18-inning scoreless streak ended in the sixth when Rollins and Galvis hit back-to-back doubles. Galvis, whose hit was just out of Jon Jay's reach in center field, quickly scored the tying run as Utley's bouncer up the middle got under the glove of Pete Kozma.

Kozma got the run back in the seventh with a sac fly after David Freese hit a leadoff double and was sacrificed to third. The Phillies also played small- ball in the bottom half with John Mayberry legging out an infield single, advancing on a bunt, moving to third on a wild pitch and scoring on Erik Kratz's base hit to left.

Games Notes

Wainwright has yet to issue a walk in 29 innings this season, the most by a Cardinals pitcher since Pea Ridge Day accomplished the feat over 29 2/3 innings to 1925 ... Galvis was playing left field for the injured Domonic Brown (back) ... Ben Revere batted seventh for the Phillies after leading off the first 15 games of the season and went 1-for-3 ... Ryan Howard had three hits for Philadelphia.