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Cardinals dominate Phillies to avoid sweep

Jun 24, 2011 - 5:43 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Lance Berkman capped a six-run eighth inning with a three-run homer, and the St. Louis Cardinals pounded the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-2, in the finale of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, Ryan Theriot and Tony Cruz each knocked in two runs to support a solid outing by Chris Carpenter (2-7), who limited Philadelphia to one run on five hits, walked one and struck out seven in seven innings.

St. Louis won for just the third time in its last 12 contests and joined idle Milwaukee atop the NL Central standings.

Chase Utley had two hits for the Phillies, who were looking to complete their first three-game sweep in St. Louis since August 1-3, 2006.

Phillies right-hander Roy Oswalt (4-6) lasted only two frames before exiting with lower back tightness.

"It's been bothering me for a little while," Oswalt said. "My last start in Seattle, a couple of pitches bit me pretty good and tonight I couldn't really get started too good."

Oswalt surrendered a solo shot in the first to Jay. He then gave up three straight singles to begin the second inning, with Cruz's base hit to right field plating Colby Rasmus. After Carpenter dropped down a sacrifice bunt and Daniel Descalso struck out, Theriot ripped a two-run single to center to put St. Louis up 4-0.

Kyle Kendrick took over in the bottom of the third for Oswalt, who was on the disabled list from April 27-May 16 with lower back inflammation, and the Cardinals tacked on another run in the inning when Holliday led off with a double and eventually scored on a fielder's choice by Skip Schumaker.

Philadelphia strung together three consecutive two-out singles -- the last one by Ryan Howard -- to get on the board in the sixth. But Cruz countered with his second RBI single in the home half of the inning.

The Cardinals put the game away in the eighth with six runs off Phillies reliever Danys Baez, who issued a bases-loaded walk to Jay before Holliday singled home a pair. Berkman followed with his 18th home run of the season, a blast over the left-field wall.

Carlos Ruiz added a home run with two outs in the ninth for Philadelphia.

"It's nice to win a ballgame," Carpenter said. "We had some issues the first night [of the series], and then they got their guy going the second night, last night, that threw a great game against us and got us. Tonight was a chance to get a game, get a win and get us back on track to go into the weekend. Fortunately I pitched well enough and we got some really nice hits, some key hits, and then late in the game broke it open. It was nice."

Game Notes

Shane Victorino went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak against St. Louis to 17 games...Kendrick allowed two runs and five hits over four innings...Before the game, the Phillies placed reliever Jose Contreras on the 15-day disabled list with a right forearm strain and selected the contract of pitcher Juan Perez from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.