ST. LOUIS (AP) — Madison Bumgarner struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings and Hunter Pence hit a three-run homer off Adam Wainwright as the surging San Francisco Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 9-4 on Friday night.
Bumgarner (7-3) allowed three hits and matched a season high for strikeouts set in his previous start against Minnesota. He walked one.
San Francisco has won eight of nine and owns the best record in the majors at 36-19.
Pence had two hits and scored twice. Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single and a double, but his run of nine straight games with an RBI was snapped.
Hector Sanchez and Gregor Blanco each had a two-run single for the Giants, who scored seven runs with two outs. San Francisco has scored 117 runs with two outs, tops in the big leagues.
Angel Pagan had two hits and scored twice for the Giants.
Jon Jay hit a three-run double off San Francisco reliever David Huff in the eighth. Allen Craig added an RBI double against Juan Gutierrez.
Wainwright (8-3) entered with a 20-inning scoreless streak and a major league-leading 1.67 ERA. He was trying to become the first nine-game winner in the National League, but lasted just 4 1/3 innings and allowed seven earned runs on eight hits. His ERA jumped to 2.32.
The Giants wasted no time ending Wainwright’s shutout streak. Pagan led off the game with a double down the left field line. He moved to third on Pence’s flyball to right and scored on Michael Morse’s two-out single.
San Francisco then broke the game open by scoring four times off Wainwright in the second inning after the first two batters were retired.
Brandon Hicks kept the inning going by coaxing a walk. Hicks went to third on Bumgarner’s single to left and scored when Pagan followed with a single to center. Pence then hit a 447-foot shot into the third deck in left field to make it 5-0.
Wainwright was pulled after allowing a single to Sandoval and a double by Morse with one out in the fifth. Sandoval and Morse both ended up scoring on Blanco’s two-out single off reliever Seth Maness.
— Associated Press —