• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Kennedy, Cardinals blow past Cubs

Sep 19, 2008 - 11:41 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- A day after saying he wanted out of St. Louis, Adam Kennedy put his money where his mouth is.

The veteran infielder hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Kennedy capped a five-run first inning with his second career slam and added an RBI single an inning later as the Cardinals snapped out of their recent funk with eight runs in the first two frames against All-Star righthander Carlos Zambrano. Earlier in the day, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Kennedy wanted to be traded since manager Tony La Russa no longer considers him a full-time starter.

"I don't know. I'm not thinking that much into it," Kennedy said. "I am just trying to work with (hitting coach Hal McRae) on my swing when I am not playing, and things came together for me today."

"He had a good day. His performance was huge for us," La Russa said. "You talk about adding on runs in a game, and he did that for us all day ... I admire him, I respect him and if I was him, I would want to play, too."

Kennedy got the start on Friday and came through with one of the finest offensive performances of his career. His four hits were his most since a 4-for-4 effort on May 23, 2006 against the Texas Rangers, and the five RBI were the most since his three-homer day for Anaheim in Game Seven of the 2002 American League Championship Series.

Kennedy's first-inning shot on Friday was just his second homer of the season.

"We put together some good at-bats early on, and today was a fun win for us, especially with what is at stake for everyone," Kennedy said.

Zambrano (14-6) followed up the best outing of his career - a no-hitter last Sunday against the Houston Astros - with one of his worst. He failed to get out of the second inning for just the third time in his career, giving up eight runs and six hits while walking three and striking out one.

Despite appearing to be in peak condition in his last start following recent arm troubles, Zambrano may not have been in his best mental state of mind on Friday. His grandmother died earlier this week and Zambrano flew to Venezuela on Wednesday to attend the funeral and be with his family.

"My arm is fine. My legs were tired from traveling up and back to Venezuela," Zambrano said. "Thank God, as a family, we were able to be together and take care of this sad situation the right way."

He returned to Chicago on Thursday night and was back on the mound less than a day later.

"That is no excuse, I came in ready today," Zambrano said. "But you have to go attend (the funeral), so you just try and battle to help your team win a ballgame."

The Cardinals got to him right away, as their first four hitters reached base before Zambrano retired Troy Glaus on a flyout to right-center field. But Kennedy immediately followed with a blast to left that made it 5-0.

Zambrano failed to regain control the next inning, allowing Ryan Ludwick to score on a wild pitch and giving up an RBI single by Felipe Lopez and a walk to Glaus before finally being yanked.

"That's why you can never figure out this game," La Russa said. "Zambrano is as good as anybody in the league. Sometimes early on, before you get settled, you give up a couple of hits and the inning can get away from you."

Ludwick added a two-run homer in the fifth inning off Angel Guzman. He scored three runs on the day, giving him a team-high 100 for the season.

Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright (10-3) worked five innings, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out five and walking three.

"I didn't have good stuff today. In fact, my stuff was very average," Wainwright said. "I did make a few good pitches in certain situations to get out of some jams, but the story today was our team putting up runs against one of the toughest pitchers."

Lopez went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Cardinals, who have won two straight after dropping seven in a row.