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Wellemeyer, Cardinals blank Bonds, Giants

Jul 8, 2007 - 11:05 PM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- St. Louis Cardinals starter Todd Wellemeyer and four relievers kept Barry Bonds off base and the San Francisco Giants off the board in a 7-0 victory on Sunday.

Ryan Ludwick had three hits to help the Cardinals avoid being swept in the three-game series.

Wellemeyer (2-3), who allowed two hits and four walks in five innings, recovered nicely after being unimpressive in his last start when he gave up six runs and three homers in three innings of a 7-1 loss to Arizona on Tuesday.

"(Wellemeyer) threw strikes," Giants center fielder Dave Roberts said. "He threw a lot of fastballs, we got pitches to hit. I thought he threw the ball well, but for us not to score any runs or put any hits together is upsetting."

Troy Cate, Troy Percival, Ryan Franklin and Jason Isringhausen combined to pitch four innings after Wellemeyer departed. San Francisco starter Barry Zito (6-9) had another poor start and is now winless in his last six outings. The lefthander, who signed a seven-year, $126 million free-agent contract in the offseason, was charged with five runs, eight hits, and four walks in four innings.

"He's battling himself, no question about it," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Starting the game I noticed his (velocity) was down, it's tough to pitch when you don't have your usual stuff."

The trouble began early for Zito as the first three Cardinals had base hits. An RBI single by Albert Pujols and a sacrifice fly by Scott Rolen gave the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage after one inning.

St. Louis increased its lead to 4-0 in the second. Aaron Miles scored when Roberts allowed Brendan Ryan's single to get past him and roll to the wall. Ludwick followed with his second double in as many innings to push Ryan across.

"It didn't feel too fluid the first couple (of innings)," Zito said. "I think the break will be good for me to access what's going on, become objective, and move forward."

Chris Duncan's two-run double with no one out in the fifth made it 6-0 and put an end to Zito's day.

With the win the Cardinals avoided being swept at home by the Giants for the first time since 1998 and improved to 4-3 on their final homestand before the All-Star break.

"I thought this was an important game," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "You keep hearing all the time, if you're only going to win one of three, win the last one. We won the last and ended up having a solid homestand."

Bonds, who remains four home runs behind Hank Aaron's all-time mark of 755, was held hitless in three at-bats. Riding a 10-game hitting streak coming into the weekend, the All-Star was lifted for a pinch hitter in the eighth and was 0-for-6 with five walks for the series.

Wellemeyer retired Bonds on a flyball with a runner on in the first and struck out the slugger with runners at the corners in the third.

"(Bonds') hands are the fastest hands I've ever seen," Wellemeyer said. "To be able to get him out, I feel very good about that."