• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Cardinals top Reds, set franchise record for wins in April

Apr 30, 2008 - 9:18 PM By Thad Kemlage PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Braden Looper picked up career win No. 50 and the St. Louis Cardinals banged out 13 hits en route to a 5-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

Rick Ankiel had three hits and drove in two runs and Aaron Miles also had two RBI for the Cardinals (18-11), who set the franchise-record for wins in the month of April.

"Obviously it's a good start for us," St. Louis outfielder Skip Schumaker said. "We expect to come out and win, so we don't come to the field and think about losing."

Looper (4-1) pitched six innings, giving up two runs and seven hits with four strikeouts. The righthander threw a season-high 114 pitches and is now 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in three career starts against Cincinnati.

"It felt really good as a pitcher to not be at your best but to still come out with a win," Looper said.

Trailing, 2-1, in the bottom of the third, St. Louis scored twice off Reds starter Aaron Harang to take the lead.

Miles singled in Schumaker, and Ankiel followed with a run-scoring single two batters later as the Cardinals had four straight hits in the inning.

"I feel like I've been getting better pitches to hit recently," said Ankiel, who went 8-for-13 with one home run and five RBI in the series.

St. Louis added two insurance runs in the seventh, with the same two Cardinals driving in the runs again. Miles doubled home Brian Barton and Ankiel drove in Miles with his third single of the game off lefthanded reliever Kent Mercker.

"They got a lot of timely two-out hits," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "We didn't get many or any, and that was the difference in the game and the series."

The Cardinals' middle relievers continued to impress, as Todd McClellan, Ron Villone and Ryan Franklin held the Reds off the scoreboard, allowing Jason Isringhausen to pick up his league-leading ninth save with a perfect ninth inning.

Isringhausen had blown the save in Looper's last start, when he gave up three runs in the ninth to the Houston Astros.

The Reds jumped on the Cardinals and Looper early after Edwin Encarnacion blasted his seventh homer of the season to lead off the second inning. Ryan Freel's infield single accounted for the second run, giving Cincinnati a 2-0 lead.

Chris Duncan scored on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the second, cutting the Cardinals' deficit to 2-1.

Cincinnati ace Aaron Harang (1-4) gave up three runs and six hits over six innings and has lost three of his last four starts despite a 2.98 ERA this season.

"He threw the ball well enough to get the win," Baker said. "We took the lead, but they got really timely hits."