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Wainwright stars as Cardinals rout Braves

Aug 23, 2008 - 5:45 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Adam Wainwright did it all in his return from the disabled list.

The righthander pitched well in his first start since June 7 and added three hits as the St. Louis Cardinals thrashed the Atlanta Braves, 18-3, on Friday.

St. Louis pounded out a season-high 26 hits, with each starter tallying at least one hit, one RBI and one run scored.

Yadier Molina led the charge with four hits and four RBI while Albert Pujols added three and three. Skip Schumaker and Ryan

Ludwick each had two hits and scored three times.

"Everything fell," Ludwick said. "It was just one of those games. We'll take it. We need it. We need every win we can get. Anytime you can put a lot of runs on the board, obviously it's going to help out the starting pitching. It gives them a little breathing room."

Wainwright (7-3) was solid in his return from a sprained right middle finger that landed him on the disabled list for 2 1/2 months. The righthander tossed six effective innings, allowing one run and five hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

"It's something that I can build on, for sure, and I'm glad to be back here, which is the main thing," Wainwright said. "We won the game. My adrenaline was going crazy before the game and I tried to keep it in check the best that I could. Luckily, my team picked me up huge tonight and made my job a little bit easier. So, all the credit goes to them. Anybody could have pitched today."

St. Louis got to Charlie Morton (3-8) for four runs in the second inning. After leaving the bases loaded in the first, Morton walked three and gave up four hits, including a two-run double by Pujols, in the second while only recording one out before being lifted.

"That kind of thing sets the tone for the rest of the game," Morton said. "The fact that I go an inning and a third. The first game of the series, you like to come in and have a good start for the series. There's very little positive and a lot of negative. I couldn't locate the pitches. The adjustments that I was trying to make weren't working."

Atlanta's bullpen did not fair any better.

Vladimir Nunez allowed two more runs in 2 2/3 innings and Matt DeSalvo was tagged for eight hits, including five run-scoring singles, and six runs in one frame. Blaine Boyer and Julian Tavarez each surrendered three runs in just an inning.

Molina delivered RBI singles in the fifth and eighth innings while plating two with a base hit in the sixth. Rick Ankiel drove in three runs and Troy Glaus added two RBI.

Pinch hitter Greg Norton hit a solo homer while Kelly Johnson and Brandon Jones added RBI hits in the ninth for the Braves.

"There's too many bad games to good games," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "They are a great hitting team and Charlie didn't have much left and much control. We can't be down in the first and second inning."