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Wainwright, Cards down Dodgers

Jul 25, 2012 - 5:26 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - It took Adam Wainwright's arm and bat to help St. Louis beat Clayton Kershaw and a team that had its number.

Wainwright drove in two runs, scored twice and pitched seven-plus solid frames, as the Cardinals downed the red-hot Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-2, in the middle contest of a three-game set.

The right-hander first drove in a run in the fifth and then was a big part of St. Louis' six-run sixth, knocking Kershaw (7-6) from the game in the process.

Kershaw also knocked someone out of the contest, as Cardinals outfielder Lance Berkman was removed from the game as a result of getting plunked in the right knee with a Kershaw offering in the third.

Wainwright (8-10) gave up two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and one walk over 7 1/3 frames.

"He pitched a great game. It was nice to see," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of his starter. "He's fun to watch when he has everything working."

Rafael Furcal drove in three runs and Allen Craig hit a two-run double for the Cardinals, who have won four of five.

James Loney finished with two hits and a run scored for the Dodgers, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end and lost to the Cardinals for the first time in the last nine meetings. Kershaw gave up eight runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and three walks over 5 2/3 frames.

Other than the win, the big news involved the health of Berkman, who immediately hit the deck after getting hit, slowly stood up and made his way to first. He stayed in the game, but was in obvious pain when advancing to second base on an ensuing single and was removed at that point.

Berkman took the pitch off his surgically-repaired right knee, and in a twist of fate, he tore the meniscus in his right knee while in the field against the Dodgers on May 19, a game Kershaw started. Tuesday was just Berkman's sixth start since returning from that injury.

The Dodgers kicked off the scoring in the fourth beginning with Andre Either's walk and Loney's single, setting the table for Juan Rivera, who drilled a run- scoring, ground-rule double to right. Luis Cruz's single then plated Loney for the two-run lead.

St. Louis answered the bell in the fifth. It started with Daniel Descalso's two-out single and Wainwright helped himself with a run-scoring double that one-hopped the wall in left-center field. He then scored on Furcal's bloop single to center.

After looking solid through four frames, the fifth was just the beginning of the end for Kershaw, who unraveled in the sixth. Matt Holiday walked in front of Carlos Beltran's double to left. David Freese's single knocked home a run, but most of the damage was done with two outs. After walking Descalso intentionally to load the bases with two outs, Kershaw couldn't find the strike zone against his counterpart, walking Wainwright to force in a run.

Furcal followed with a two-run single that chased Kershaw, but his line was closed when Craig greeted new hurler Josh Lindblom with a two-run double.

"If I get Adam Wainwright out today I probably give up maybe one run," Kershaw said. "It's just frustrating. There were some things that could have been avoided by me."

Game Notes

Kershaw gave up just two runs in 14 innings of work since the All-Star break prior to Tuesday's start. In comparison, Wainwright had lost both of his starts since the break...Despite leaving the game early, Berkman extended his consecutive home on-base streak to 35 games, the longest home on-base streak in the majors since July 31, 2011...Kershaw surrendered at least eight runs only once in his previous 138 career starts...Wainwright logged his most frames since a complete-game victory on May 22.