ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright threw eight sharp innings and Jason Motte struck out Adam Rosales with the tying run in scoring position, preserving the St. Louis Cardinals’ 4-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.
Ryan Franklin started the ninth but left after Ryan Sweeney’s RBI single got the A’s within two. Motte struck out Kevin Kouzmanoff and got Mark Ellis to fly out before Gabe Gross singled in a run.
With runners on first and second, Rosales swung and missed for strike three, giving Motte his second save in two opportunities.
Matt Holliday homered and drove in three runs for the second consecutive day for St. Louis, whichhas won four of five and will go for a three-game sweep today. Skip Schumaker had two hits for a two-game total of five, and Albert Pujols drew his major league-leading 20th intentional walk in the fifth.
Wainwright (10-4) gave up an unearned run and five hits for his 22nd consecutive quality start at home, three more than any other pitcher in major league history. He is 7-0 with a 1.64 ERA this season at home, averaging nearly eight innings in seven starts. He lowered his overall ERA to 2.23.
Holliday hit a tiebreaking RBI double off the base of the wall in left-center in the fifth and a tworun home run off Ben Sheets (2-7) in the seventh that made it 4-1. Holliday, who batted second for the fifth consecutive game, had endured a career-worst 43 at-bat RBI drought before homering and driving inthree runs Friday.
ANGELS 12, CUBS 0
Howie Kendrick hit a leadoff home run to start a big day for visiting Los Angeles and Jered Weaver gave up 2 hits and struck out 11 in 7 innings in a rout ofChicago. Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff) had a two-run home run and Kendrick drove in three runs for the Angels.
BRAVES 5, ROYALS 4
Troy Glaus hit a leadoff home run in the ninth inning and Atlanta beat visiting Kansas City.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, TIGERS 5
Edwin Jackson (4-6) pitched into the eighth inning against his former team and Arizona beat host Detroit.
ORIOLES 5, PADRES 4
Adam Jones hit a two-run home run that gave Kevin Millwood (1-8) his first victory of the season as visiting Baltimore held on to beat San Diego.
PIRATES 6, INDIANS 4
Lastings Milledge drove in four runs, Andrew McCutchen scored four times and Pittsburgh ended a 12-game slide by beating visiting Cleveland.
RANGERS 5, ASTROS 1
Colby Lewis pitched a two-hitter for his first complete game, rookie Justin Smoak homered for the second consecutive day and visiting Texas beat Houston.
RAYS 9, MARLINS 8
B.J. Upton and Reid Brignac each drew bases-loaded walks in a fourrun 11th inning against Jorge Sosa as visiting Tampa Bay beat Florida.
BLUE JAYS 3, GIANTS 0
Aaron Hill hit a two-run home run and Toronto beat visiting San Francisco.
RED SOX 5, DODGERS 4
Dustin Pedroia singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning and Boston overcame Manny Ramirez’s home run to beat visiting Los Angeles.
TWINS 13, PHILLIES 10
Joe Mauer hit a tying home run off Brad Lidge to cap a five-run rally in the ninth inning and Delmon Young drove in the go-ahead run in the 11th, sending visiting Minnesota to a victory over Philadelphia.
WHITE SOX 1, NATIONALS 0
Jake Peavy pitched a three-hitter for his fourth career shutout and visiting Chicago beat Washington.
YANKEES 5, METS 3
Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson each hit a two-run home run, Phil Hughes (10-1) became the American League’s second 10-game winner and the New York Yankees ended the Mets’ eight-game winning streak.
National League ROCKIES 8, BREWERS 7 Seth Smith drove in four runs as Colorado outslugged visiting Milwaukee.
Saturday’s games INTERLEAGUE LA Angels 12, Chicago Cubs 0 NY Yankees 5, NY Mets 3 Toronto 3, San Francisco 0 Chicago White Sox 1, Washington 0 Boston 5, LA Dodgers 4 Minnesota 13, Philadelphia 10, 11 innings Arizona 6, Detroit 5 Pittsburgh 6, Cleveland 4 Texas 5, Houston 1 Atlanta 5, Kansas City 4 Tampa Bay 9, Florida 8, 11 innings St. Louis 4, Oakland 3 Baltimore 5, San Diego 4 Cincinnati at Seattle, (n) NATIONAL LEAGUE Colorado 8, Milwaukee 7
Sports, Pages 30 on 06/20/2010