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Wainwright, Pujols' blasts help send Phillies to 10,000th loss

Jul 16, 2007 - 3:23 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Adam Wainwright did what none of the other St. Louis Cardinals pitchers could do so far this series - shut down the hot Philadelphia Phillies, who reached a dubious milestone.

Wainwright threw seven scoreless innings Sunday as the Cardinals avoided a sweep with a 10-2 victory over the Phillies, who became the first professional sports franchise to reach the 10,000-loss plateau at a sold-out Citizens Bank Park.

Philadelphia posted a combined 23 runs and 37 hits in taking the first two games of the series but could not solve Wainwright (8-7) in front of a national TV audience.

"I just tried to keep everything down," Wainwright said. "My focus tonight was really good and I was able to stay locked in."

Wainwright's outing provided some rest for an overworked bullpen, which totaled 12 innings of action over the past two days. Kip Wells and Mike Maroth, who started on Friday and Saturday respectively for St. Louis, combined to allow 10 earned runs in six innings.

"He made so many good pitches tonight," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "He really was outstanding."

A converted closer, Wainwright held the Phillies - who have scored the most runs in the National League - to just six hits, recording five strikeouts and two walks.

"I'm hard pressed to find a better lineup in the National League than the Phillies," Wainwright said. "They have some guys that can really hurt you if you're up in the zone."

It wasn't the first time that Wainwright had success against the Phillies. He improved to 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA against the team in three appearances - two starts.

As impressive as Wainwright was on the hill, the St. Louis offense was just as good. St. Louis exploded for 10 runs, 14 hits and six home runs off the NL's worst pitching staff by ERA (4.88). David Eckstein was the only starter not to record a base hit.

Pujols had three hits, including a pair of home runs, and knocked in three runs.

The 2005 NL MVP, Pujols now has four homers in his last 12 at-bats and has homered in three consecutive games after coming into the series with a career-worst streak of 72 at-bats without a home run.

"We got nice production up and down the lineup, but obviously Albert was a big spark," La Russa said. "When he's locked in like this and we have some guys on base, we're going to score some runs."

With St. Louis leading, 3-0, in the fifth, Pujols and Chris Duncan hit back-to-back home runs off starter Adam Eaton (8-6) to highlight a three-run frame that made it 6-0.

"I've been seeing the ball well the last two months," Pujols said. "As long as I go out there and do my best, I can't control anything else."

Juan Encarnacion and Adam Kennedy went back-to-back in the seventh off reliever Brian Sanches, just minutes after Pujols sent his second homer of the game to left field.

Skip Schumaker had two doubles and Adam Kennedy had a pair of hits and knocked in two runs. Ryan Ludwick added a pinch-hit home run in the eighth.

Rookie Michael Bourn broke up the shutout with his first career home run off rookie Andy Cavazos in the ninth and Chase Utley added an RBI double before Cavazos ended it by striking out reigning NL MVP Ryan Howard.

The Phillies had several chances to score early but were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position before Utley's double.

Wainwright fought out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the third and a bases-loaded one-out jam in the sixth.

Eaton allowed 10 hits and six earned runs in four innings to pick up the loss. It was his second defeat to the Cardinals in the past month after surrendering six earned runs in 5 1/3 innings on June 23 in an 8-3 loss in St. Louis.