Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Chris Carpenter threw seven strong innings and Jon Jay and Lance Berkman homered to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

Carpenter (2-7) picked up his first victory since May 10. He allowed one run and five hits to end a string of seven successive starts without a win. Carpenter struck out seven and walked one.

St. Louis won for the first time since three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols fractured his left forearm on Sunday. The Cardinals managed just two runs and 11 hits during the first two games without Pujols, who is out 4 to 6 weeks.

Philadelphia starter Roy Oswalt (4-6) left after two innings due to tightness in his lower back. He gave up four runs and five hits in his shortest start since a two-inning outing in a 9-7 loss to Atlanta on September 10, 2009.

The Phillies, who were looking to sweep the three-game series, closed out a six-game road trip at 3-3.

Carpenter entered the game with the 11th-lowest run support among NL starters at 3.38 runs per game. His teammates scored three times in the second and once in the third to give him an early 5-0 cushion.

Carpenter retired 10 of the first 11 hitters. He gave up three successive singles in the sixth, including a run-scoring hit by Ryan Howard, with two outs.

Jay hit his fifth homer of the season, a 422-foot shot to right off Oswalt to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Berkman capped off a six-run outburst in the eighth with a three-run shot, his 18th of the season.

Colby Rasmus, Skip Schumaker and rookie catcher Tony Cruz opened the second with successive singles to push the lead to 2-0. Carpenter added a sacrifice bunt before Ryan Theriot ripped a two-run single to make it 4-0.

Cruz added a run-scoring single in the sixth. He finished 2 for 3 with the first two RBIs of his career.

Matt Holliday drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single in the eighth off reliever Danys Baez, who gave up six runs in the inning.

Carlos Ruiz hit a two-out homer in the ninth for Philadelphia.

Cardinals Media Relations

The St. Louis Cardinals announced a series of roster moves this afternoon with left-handed reliever Raul Valdes joining the team’s 25-man roster for tonight’s series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Cardinals outrighted Memphis (AAA) right-handed pitcher David Kopp off the 40-man roster and optioned right-handed pitcher Maikel Cleto from St. Louis to Memphis.  The Cardinals also activated right-handed pitcher Bryan Augenstein from the 60-day disabled list and optioned him to Memphis.  Today’s moves give the Cardinals a full 40-man roster.

Valdes, 33, was signed by the Cardinals last November after going 3-3 with a 4.91 ERA in 38 games in 2010 for the New York Mets where he fanned 56 batters in 58.2 innings pitched.

The 5-11, 190-pound native of Cuba was 5-2 with a 5.05 ERA in 21 games (7 starts) for the Memphis Redbirds this season.  Since moving out of the Memphis starting rotation, Valdes has excelled in a relief role, going 3-0 with a 0.55 ERA in his 14 relief appearances.  He has struck out 16 batters in 16.1 IP in relief, allowing just one walk and a .109 opponent’s batting average.   In the month of June, Valdes is 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA in seven appearances.

Valdes earned his first Major League save last May 25 against the Phillies with 3.0 scoreless innings.  He collected his first Major League hit (off Felipe Lopez) in the 18th inning of the Cardinals-Mets 20-inning affair last April 17 at Busch Stadium.

Valdes has been assigned uniform #37.

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Cliff Lee approaches every start aiming to go nine innings. The St. Louis Cardinals put up little resistance in the left-hander’s second straight shutout.

“There’s total gratification,” Lee said. “Every time I want to throw the whole game, there’s no doubt about it. I think I could have gone the 10th and the 11th, too.”

Lee scattered six hits and the Philadelphia Phillies got homers from Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard in the fourth inning of a 4-0 victory Wednesday night.

The Cardinals have totaled two runs and 11 hits in their first two games without injured Albert Pujols, who is expected to miss six weeks with a fractured left wrist. It didn’t help that they have faced two of the game’s best, with Roy Halladay giving up four hits in six innings Tuesday.

“He’s arguably the best player in the National League,” Lee said of Pujols. “He’s an obvious threat and anytime he’s not in the lineup you feel better about that when you’re the opposing pitcher.”

Kyle Lohse (7-4) worked eight innings to match his season best, allowing three runs and seven hits with no walks or strikeouts. He struggled only in the fourth when Rollins led off with his seventh homer and Howard hit a two-run shot, his 16th overall, with one out following a single by Chase Utley.

Lohse said he had to alter his game plan because strikes on the inside corner weren’t getting called. He thought he had Rollins struck out a few pitches before giving up the homer.

“I kind of fell behind Howard and he was looking away and I left the ball up,” Lohse said. “Other than that, I felt like I was in control. It was just an unfortunate night to be going against Lee.”

Utley added an eighth-inning sacrifice fly for the NL East-leading Phillies, who have won 10 of 12 and will go for a three-game sweep on Thursday with Roy Oswalt facing Chris Carpenter.

Howard, who grew up in suburban St. Louis and still lives there, also singled and is a career .374 hitter with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 25 games at Busch Stadium. Both are highs for visiting players at the 6-year-old ballpark and the homer broke a tie with Adam Dunn and Prince Fielder.

“It’s home, I think it’s a little bit different when a guy gets to go back home and play where it all began,” Howard said. “You’re just a lot more comfortable, I guess.”

Lee (8-5) has won all four of his starts this month, allowing only one run in 33 innings while lowering his ERA from 3.94 to 2.87. The 2008 AL Cy Young winner followed a two-hitter over the Florida Marlins with his eighth career shutout and has a 23-inning scoreless streak.

Leaning on his cutter, Lee retired 11 straight between the third and seventh inning and threw a career-high 126 pitches. Only Lohse reached third base after hitting a leadoff double off a curveball in the third for his first extra-base hit of the season.

“He threw the ball well all night as advertised,” said Cardinals leadoff man Ryan Theriot, who had a single and walk. “You know what you’re going to get. I thought we had a few little chances there, but Cliff’s a great pitcher and that’s what he does.”

Lee is 6-1 since losing 3-1 at St. Louis on May 16 when he walked a career-high six in 6 1/3 innings. He opened this game with seven straight balls before settling in and made a nice leaping stab on Pete Kozma’s grounder up the middle to help keep the Cardinals off the board in the third.

Including the loss at St. Louis in May, Lee had been 0-3 with a 5.84 ERA in his four previous road starts.

“That’s just someone breaking down stats and nitpicking little things,” Lee said. “To me, it doesn’t matter if I pitch at home or on the road. It’s all the same.”

Cardinals Media Relations

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they recalled right-handed pitcher Lance Lynn from Memphis (AAA) and given right-handed reliever Miguel Batista his unconditional release.

Lynn, 24, made two starts for the Cardinals earlier this season, going 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA.  He has compiled a 7-3 won-loss mark with a 3.84 ERA in 12 starts (75.0 IP) for Memphis.  He posted a win over Nashville on June 20 in his most recent start, allowing three runs in six innings.

Of Lynn’s 79 career appearances as a professional, 74 have come as a starter.  His last relief appearance came in 2009 for Palm Beach (A).

Batista, 40, fashioned a 3-2 mark with a 4.60 ERA in 26 games (29.1 IP) for the Cardinals this season after being signed as a free-agent in January.