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Ludwick lifts Cardinals past Rays

May 17, 2008 - 10:15 PM By Thad Kemlage PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Ryan Ludwick hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning Saturday, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-8 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays and helping manager Tony LaRussa record his 2,400th career win.

It was the second homer of the game and 10th this season for Ludwick, who has homered in six of his last 10 games.

"I was sitting on slider and he threw it and I hit it straight up in the air and I knew the wind was blowing out," Ludwick said. "I got lucky, and it gave us the 'W'."

With one out in the 10th, Ludwick lofted a first-pitch breaking ball from Dan Wheeler (0-3) over the wall in center field to lift St. Louis to its third win in its last 11 games.

"I didn't even think about it until right now," LaRussa said of his milestone win. "It would have been a good number a week ago."

Ludwick hit his first homer in the fourth inning off Tampa Bay starter Matt Garza to tie the game 3-3. Garza lasted just 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven runs - six earned - and 10 hits.

"He didn't throw the ball poorly today," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "But they just did a nice job of spreading the ball around today."

Ryan Franklin (2-1) tossed two scoreless relief innings to record the win for the Cardinals.

With the game tied at 3-3, St. Louis exploded in the fifth inning - bringing nine men to the plate and scoring four runs.

But St. Louis' relievers could not hold the lead after Carlos Pena belted a three-run homer in the seventh inning off Randy Flores, making it 8-7. Rays rookie Evan Longoria added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to tie the game at 8-8.

"To come back and put ourselves in a position to win was awesome," Wheeler said. "It shows a lot of character in this team, but we just couldn't put it away."

Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright looked like he was headed for his second straight rough outing. But the righthander limited the Rays to just four runs despite yielding 12 hits over 5 2/3 innings.

"I was really battling myself mechanically and I kept telling myself to keep my team in it and keep battling," Wainwright said.

Troy Glaus continued his hot homestand, finishing with three RBI. Glaus is now hitting .500 with eight RBI in the past five home games. Albert Pujols added two hits, including his ninth homer of the season.

Longoria singled home B.J. Upton in the first inning and Carl Crawford drove in two more the following inning. Upton and Crawford each had three hits in the game.

Tampa Bay had 18 hits, five more than the Cardinals, but still took the loss. The Rays were caught stealing three times and picked off once, making a total of five outs on the base paths.

"We made up for all the mental mistakes that we have not been making this season all in one day," Maddon said. "You just got to get them out of the way and move on."