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Phillies top Cardinals with crazy 8th

Jun 22, 2011 - 5:19 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - The Phillies threw their biggest arm against a Cardinals team missing its biggest bat.

Then, they won the game with their biggest (and most bizarre) inning of the season.

The Phillies sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine runs in the eighth inning Tuesday to beat the Cardinals, 10-2, in the opener of a three-game series.

Roy Halladay started, throwing six innings and giving up just one run and four hits, while the Cardinals played the first of what will be many games without injured star Albert Pujols.

By the time the game ended after 3 hours and 12 minutes, it was hard to remember Halladay had even pitched in it -- a side-effect of Philadelphia's 43-minute eighth inning.

"I don't know what happened," said St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. "It was just one of those days."

Shane Victorino singled and Chase Utley walked against Trever Miller (0-1) to start the rally. Miller came out for Jason Motte, who threw nine pitches: the second hit Ryan Howard in the elbow and the ninth struck Placido Polanco in the hand to score a run and tie the game at 2-2.

Brian Tallet replaced Motte and struck out Raul Ibanez, but Ben Francisco delivered a go-ahead, pinch-hit RBI single through the left side of the infield to make it 3-2.

The Phillies poured it on, though the St. Louis pitchers seemed intent on making it easy.

Miguel Batista walked Carlos Ruiz and pinch-hitter Michael Martinez with the bases loaded, forcing in two more runs, then surrendered an RBI single to Jimmy Rollins.

Utley hit a two-run single and Howard had an RBI base hit off Maikel Cleto to finish off the rally.

"Mind-boggling to say the least and very disappointing. Not just for us, but for (starter Kyle) McClellan," said Miller. "He threw the ball really well against a Cy Young Award winner and deserved to win the ballgame."

Michael Stutes (2-0) got the win for Philadelphia despite giving up a run in the seventh inning on Skip Schumaker's sacrifice fly, which gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead.

Ruiz was 4-for-4 and Utley had two hits for the Phillies, who bounced back from a series loss to Seattle over the weekend to improve to 9-2 in their last 11 games.

Miller took the loss, charged with two runs in just 1/3 of an inning. Starter McClellan was hoodwinked out of a win after giving up one run and five hits in seven strong innings. McClellan went 0-for-2 batting in the No. 8 spot.

The Cardinals, who have lost eight of their last 10 games, placed Pujols on the 15-day disabled list earlier Tuesday -- just the third time in his career he has landed on the DL. He is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with a fracture in his left arm following a collision at first base on Sunday.

Hits were hard to come by against the two right-handed starters, so the teams had to scratch together their first runs.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the fifth. They got back-to-back singles from Yadier Molina and Daniel Descalso to lead off the inning, then another base hit from Skip Schumaker after McClellan fouled out on a bunt attempt.

Ryan Theriot then bounced a grounder to Polanco at third base, but Polanco double-clutched before throwing to second and the Phillies couldn't turn the double-play, allowing Molina to score.

The Phillies tied it 1-1 on an odd inning-ending play in the seventh when Ibanez, who had walked with one out, raced home from second base on Ross Gload's single to left field.

Descalso cut off the throw home and tagged Ruiz in between second and third for the third out, but not before Ibanez slid across home plate. Umpire Mike Estabrook was histrionic in making his call, repeatedly pointing to the plate to indicate Ibanez had made it in time.

Gload was pinch-hitting for Halladay, who understood why he was pulled for some offense.

"That's part of the National League and definitely part of what makes it different," he said. "I would have loved to stay, but you have to take a chance there to at least try to tie the game."

Game Notes

The Cardinals swept the Phillies in a two-game series last month and had won five of the previous six meetings...Philadelphia has won each of Halladay's last seven starts.