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Berkman, Cardinals slam Diamondbacks

Apr 14, 2011 - 6:41 AM Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) - Lance Berkman hit a grand slam and drove in five overall, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rout the Arizona Diamondbacks, 15-5, in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Skip Schumaker blasted a three-run shot for the Cardinals, who scored 31 runs in the series. Colby Rasmus and Gerald Laird both finished with three hits, including two doubles, in Wednesday's 17-hit outburst, which made life relatively easy for Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (1-1).

Westbrook gave up five runs -- two earned -- in 5 1/3 innings, during which he threw 102 pitches. He allowed nine hits, walked two and struck out three.

While not dominating, the outing was enough to keep St. Louis in the game, especially given the way the Cardinals got to Arizona starter Ian Kennedy (1-1). In only three innings, the right-hander gave up nine runs on seven hits and two walks.

Kennedy was coming off an excellent start against Cincinnati last Friday, when he struck out nine and gave up just one run in eight innings.

Russell Branyan hit a two-run homer for the Diamondbacks, who had broken out for 13 runs in Tuesday's contest.

But on Wednesday it was the Cardinals' turn to put up a big run total. They started in the first inning, when Rasmus reached with a simple one-out bunt single.

Albert Pujols followed with a ground-rule double before Matt Holliday walked to load the bases, and Kennedy's wild pitch plated Rasmus to put St. Louis on the board. Berkman then stepped up with the bases full, but could only manage to plate one on a groundout.

The Cardinals rallied again in the second, and Rasmus' two-run double made it a 4-0 game. Pujols followed with a walk and Kennedy hit Holliday to fill the bases, setting the stage again for Berkman, who took advantage with a slam to left.

Westbrook's RBI double in the third rounded out St. Louis' dominance of Kennedy.

"I was off with pretty much everything," Kennedy said. "My command. My curveball was getting over, nothing else we getting over. Really just battling myself. Pretty bad."

Schumaker's blast off Aaron Heilman in the fourth gave the Cardinals a 12-run lead before Arizona even got on the scoreboard. The Diamondbacks did so in the bottom half, when Branyan followed Justin Upton's leadoff walk with his first homer of the season.

But Arizona was too far behind and couldn't keep St. Louis from scoring.

Pujols tacked on a two-run single in the fifth, and scored later in the inning on David Freese's single.

"Hitters were relentless," said Cardinals manager Tony La Russa. "Kennedy's a solid pitcher. Just came out and had some great at-bats, and every inning stayed hungry."

Arizona pushed three runs across in the bottom half to account for the final score.

Game Notes

Berkman's grand slam was the sixth of his career...St. Louis went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position...Arizona has allowed 45 runs in its last five games.