Cardinals pound Phillies 11-5, Wacha stays unbeaten
ST. LOUIS -- Juggling the batting order paid off for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Facing a pitcher making his major league debut did not hurt either.
The Cardinals scored seven runs off Severino Gonzalez in the first three innings and beat the Philadelphia Phillies 11-5 on Tuesday night. St. Louis finished with a season high in runs and hits (15) to win for the first time in three games.
Trying to jolt his offense, manager Mike Matheny moved Matt Carpenter out of the leadoff spot for the first time in nearly two years. Jason Heyward was dropped from second to sixth and Jon Jay took over at the top of the order. All three contributed in their new places in the order.
Carpenter tripled and scored in the first, had an RBI double in the fifth and walked and scored in the eighth. The double was his 12th, most in the majors and the most in franchise history after 19 games.
"It's hard to argue with the team's 15 hits and 11 runs," Heyward said of the changes. "Our lineup's flexible and that's what is awesome about it."
Heyward reached base four times and scored twice and Jay added two RBI singles.
"We like what we saw," said Matheny, who said he switched the order because Heyward had been struggling and he wanted to put Carpenter in a better position to drive in runs. "They were clicking pretty good. We like the way it went."
Matt Holliday, hitting in his usual third spot, and Matt Adams each added three hits for the Cardinals. Holliday also scored three runs and had an RBI as every player in the Cardinals' starting lineup finished with at least a hit, run or RBI.
Michael Wacha (4-0) drove in two runs and pitched 5 2/3 innings to win for the fourth time in four starts. He gave up a season-high four runs and six hits.
"My command just wasn't where I wanted it to be," Wacha said. "But those guys putting together great at-bats made my job easier."
Gonzalez (0-1) yielded seven runs and 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings.
"He left some balls over the plate and we capitalized," Jay said.
Added Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg: "He didn't really establish both sides of the plate with his fastball. It seemed like most of the balls were out over the plate and they had good swings at them. It was an experience for him."
Freddy Galvis singled three times and scored twice for Philadelphia. Rookie Odubel Herrera doubled and had two RBIs.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Phillies: OF Domonic Brown was eligible to return to the majors after finishing a 20-day rehab assignment, but after being removed from the disabled list, the 2013 All-Star was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Brown was on the disabled list because of left Achilles tendinitis. After he went 5 for 42 in the last part of his rehab assignment, the Phillies decided not to bring him to the majors. Manager Ryne Sandberg said Brown would stay in the minors until "he's ready to come here and help us."
Cardinals: If RHP Adam Wainwright had not been injured, he was scheduled to make his next start on Thursday. Instead, he will be undergoing surgery on his left Achilles that day and LHP Tim Cooney will start in his place. Cooney, 24, will be making his major league debut.
A FIRST FOR PANAMA
For the first time in major league history, a pitcher born in Panama (Gonzalez) started a game throwing to a catcher born in Panama (Carlos Ruiz).
HIT AWAY
Even though Wainwright's season-ending injury happened while batting, he is not ready to see the National League adopt the designated hitter. "Baseball is a National League game," Wainwright said. "I wish both leagues would convert to National League baseball. You can't point to another instance that the pitcher has hurt on Achilles (batting). The game in the National League is just a better game."
UP NEXT
RHP Aaron Harang, who has made more starts against the Cardinals than any active pitcher, will start for the Phillies on Wednesday night. In 27 starts against St. Louis, Harang is 7-15 with a 4.27 ERA. He has not beaten the Cardinals since 2009. RHP Carlos Martinez, 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA, will start for the Cardinals.
