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Ludwick's homer caps rally for Cardinals

Jun 18, 2007 - 1:05 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Ryan Ludwick made sure the St. Louis Cardinals left town on a good note.

Ludwick blasted a three-run go-ahead homer in the seventh inning and drove in a career-high five runs, as the Cardinals defeated the Athletics, 10-6, in the rubber match of the series.

After being drubbed, 14-3, in the first game on Friday, St. Louis returned the favor with a 15-3 beating on Saturday and took Sunday's series finale in dramatic fashion.

"We've had periods of the season where we haven't hit and periods where we haven't pitched," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "You've got to put them both together like we did today. After the first inning, we pitched and our offense was relentless. In other games that have gotten away, one or both, hadn't happened."

Trailing, 5-4, in the seventh, St. Louis struck back against Oakland reliever Colby Lewis when Albert Pujols and Juan Encarnacion singled to start the inning. Scott Rolen followed by lining a base hit to right, scoring Pujols and forging a 5-5 tie.

That set the stage for Ludwick, who crushed Lewis' 2-2 changeup into the left field seats to break the tie and give the Cardinals an 8-5 cushion.

"He threw the curveball the pitch before that," Ludwick said. "I took a good swing at it and fouled it off. The next pitch, I was just looking to get the ball in the air with guys in scoring position, and I ended up hitting it out. I wasn't trying to hit one, I was just trying to get the run home."

"I threw a pretty good breaking ball - a strikeout pitch," Lewis said. "I left it up, and Luddy took care of it."

Lewis had not allowed a run in his previous 10 outings and had retired 24 straight batters to set an Oakland record for relievers.

"Sometimes you get into a rhythm and a roll, and then you have a few shaky outings," Lewis said. "You just have to shake it off, and continue to go out there and do your job."

Ludwick plated two more runs in the eighth with a single off Athletics reliever Jay Marshall to give the Cardinals a 10-6 bulge.

"Things worked out for us today, and it was a big win for our team," Ludwick said. "Taking two out of three here is huge. It shows a lot that we scored a lot of runs these last two days. It's exciting to see our offense get going like this."

Trailing, 1-0, in the first inning, Oakland began the scoring against St. Louis starter Anthony Reyes when rookie Travis Buck led off the inning with a sharp liner to left field for a single.

After Mark Ellis was hit by a pitch and Nick Swisher flew out to center field, Jack Cust blasted a towering shot over the center field wall for a 3-1 lead.

It was Cust's ninth home run of the season and his first since May 19 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

"We got him early," Cust said. "Later on he settled down though. I don't think he let up. He just made good adjustments after that first inning."

Shannon Stewart drew a base on balls and, after Dan Johnson flew out to center, Bobby Crosby drilled an RBI double to left-center. Jason Kendall followed with a two-out double down the left field line, plating Crosby for a 5-1 cushion.

"We got out to a big lead early and just didn't get it done today," Athletics manager Bob Geren said. "Our pitching and defense has carried us for a good part of the season. The last couple of days they were both sub-par and it cost us."

Trailing, 5-2, in the fourth, the Cardinals answered back when Brendan Ryan and So Taguchi each drove in a run to cut Oakland's lead to 5-4. After Pujols drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, Encarnacion worked a full count off Oakland starter Joe Kennedy before grounding out to third to end the threat.

Kennedy, who entered having received run support of two runs or less in eight of his 12 starts this year, struggled despite being staked to the early four-run lead. The lefthander labored threw five innings, yielding four runs and seven hits while tossing 91 pitches - only 48 for strikes.

"It wasn't one of his better outings," Geren said. "He was around the zone a lot and they took advantage of that. His span around the zone wasn't what it usually is."

Reyes, who was sent to Class AAA Memphis after posting an 0-8 record with a 6.08 ERA in nine starts this season, was recalled by the Cardinals in time for Sunday's game. He allowed five runs and seven hits while walking three and hitting two.

"It was one of those things where I came up here and started throwing the ball all over the place," Reyes said. "I wasn't hitting my spots early on. I had it under control before I came up, but it's a different story up here. I just take it as I battled through the rest of the innings and grinded it out."

St. Louis opened the scoring in the first when Scott Spiezio deposited a 3-2 offering over the left field wall for his third home run of the year and a 1-0 edge.

"We came in knowing that this team scores a lot of runs," Spiezio said. "We were facing two lefties the last two days, and (Dan) Haren on Friday, so we knew it was going to be a battle. We were able to get our offense going today. It was nice to get the win."

Reyes has allowed 24 runs in the first two innings over his 10 starts.