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Tuesday, May 9 10:15pm ET
Cardinals stop Giants streak at seven | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- When the St. Louis Cardinals put Garrett Stephenson on the mound, they become even more of an offensive juggernaut. Fernando Vina hit a three-run inside-the-park homer as the Cardinals scored eight runs in the second inning of a 13-6 win Tuesday night over the San Francisco Giants, who had their seven-game winning streak snapped. Edgar Renteria and Ray Lankford added solo homers, J.D. Drew and Craig Paquette had two-run doubles and Mark McGwire had an RBI single and scored twice for the Cardinals, who had 15 hits. Stephenson (5-0), who allowed three runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, has enjoyed remarkable run support this season. The Cardinals have averaged 9.6 runs in his starts, as opposed to six runs in their other games. "He's gotten a lot of runs, but we may go two months now and not score anything for him," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "I don't think there's any way to explain it; it's a fluke." McGwire had an RBI single and another run scored on a wild pitch as the Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the first. St. Louis broke the game open in the second, which included two homers and three passed balls by Giants catcher Bobby Estalella. "That was kind of weird. It wasn't very much fun out there. Nothing was going right," Estalella said. "I got crossed up, expecting fastballs and getting curves." Vina's homer, his first of the season, was a liner over the head of right fielder Armando Rios -- playing in place of the injured Ellis Burks. The next batter, Renteria, hit his sixth homer of the year into the left-field bleachers. The Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning. Drew had two hits in the frame, including a two-run double, and scored twice in the inning. "The second inning was one of the worst we've ever played," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "The game started off real bad and then it got worse." Stephenson nearly got knocked out in the fourth, when he allowed three runs and left the bases loaded. "You almost feel like it's tougher to pitch with such a big lead because you don't throw the same pitches you'd throw in a tight situation," he said. Giants starter Russ Ortiz (2-4) lasted just 1 1/3 innings, the shortest start of his career, allowing eight runs and seven hits. San Francisco's Jeff Kent hit his ninth homer of the season, a two-run shot in the fourth. The two RBI gave him 700 for his career. Barry Bonds led off the seventh with his 12th homer, breaking his 0-for-16 drought. J.T. Snow had four hits for the Giants, including an RBI single in the ninth. Game notesMcGwire went 2-for-2 with three walks. ... 2B Kent made an error in the second inning, breaking his streak of 68 games without an error. The streak began last August. ... The major league record for passed balls in an inning is four. ... The Cardinals have had back-to-back homers 10 times this season. ... Ortiz's previous shortest start was 1 2/3 innings on June 23, 1999, against Milwaukee. ... Burks sat out a day after aggravating his strained left quadriceps. ... Stephenson has an ERA of 5.32 this season. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard St. Louis Clubhouse San Francisco Clubhouse RECAPS Chi. White Sox 6 Boston 0
St. Louis 13
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