Carlos Beltran hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth, Adam Wainwright pitched seven solid innings and the St. Louis Cardinals escaped a ninth-inning jam for a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.

Philadelphia put runners at first and third with nobody out against Edward Mujica, but the fill-in closer retired three straight batters to hand the Phillies their fourth consecutive defeat.

Yadier Molina went 3 for 4 with two RBIs for the Cardinals, who had seven hits one night after getting held to Beltran’s seventh-inning double in a 5-0 loss to A.J. Burnett and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wainwright (3-1) wasn’t as sharp as his previous start, when he pitched a four-hitter and matched a career high with 12 strikeouts Saturday in an 8-0 win over Milwaukee, but he was still effective.

The right-hander gave up three runs and nine hits while striking out four and walking none. He hasn’t walked a batter in 29 innings to start the season.

Beltran broke a 3-all tie with one out in the eighth when he hit an opposite-field homer to left off Mike Adams (0-1).

Mujica wriggled out of trouble in the ninth to convert his first save opportunity. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny chose Mujica over Mitchell Boggs, who has blown two of his four save chances this season. It appeared Mujica would flop, too, but he recovered quickly.

Ben Revere led off the ninth with a single and went to third on Erik Kratz’s single to right. Kratz moved up on pinch-hitter Kevin Frandsen’s groundout to shortstop, but Revere held at third. Jimmy Rollins struck out and Freddy Galvis grounded out to end it.

Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who had a 10.97 ERA through two starts, had a second consecutive strong outing but remained winless through four starts. He allowed three runs and five hits while striking out eight and walking two in seven innings.

Ryan Howard went 3 for 4 for the Phillies. Galvis, playing the outfield for the first time in his career, and Chase Utley each had a pair of hits and an RBI for Philadelphia, which had 13 hits.

The Phillies failed to draw a walk for the fourth consecutive game. Philadelphia, which entered 26th in the majors with 34 walks, is averaging 2.1 per game this season.

The Cardinals opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the fourth. Hamels walked Matt Holliday leading off and Allen Craig followed with a line drive to right field that fell in front of John Mayberry Jr., who slipped while pursuing the ball.

Molina drove home both runners with a double down the right-field line. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel came out to argue that the ball was foul.

Philadelphia tied it in the sixth on three straight hard-hit balls off Wainwright. With one out, Rollins lined a double just inside first base and scored on Galvis’ double off the center-field wall that was just out of Jon Jay’s reach. Utley added an RBI single.

Cardinals pitching coach Derek Lilliquist visited Wainwright after Utley’s hit, and the St. Louis righty induced a pair of groundouts to end the inning.

St. Louis regained the lead in the seventh on Pete Kozma’s sacrifice fly after David Freese opened the inning with a double and went to third on Jay’s sacrifice.

In the bottom half, Kratz ended an 0-for-16 slump with an RBI single. Beltran kept the score tied with an excellent catch on Rollins’ drive to right.

Galvis started in left field in place of Domonic Brown, who left Wednesday’s game against the Reds with a back injury. Brown pinch-hit in the seventh and reached on a fielder’s choice.

Manuel, hoping to get his struggling offense going, moved Revere out of the leadoff spot for the first time this season in favor of Rollins, who led off during most of his previous 13 seasons with Philadelphia. Revere, batting seventh, was 1 for 3 while Rollins was 1 for 5.

Matheny also juggled his lineup, dropping Jay out of the leadoff spot for the first time in favor of Matt Carpenter.

— Associated Press —

A.J. Burnett was 24 when he threw his only no-hitter.

Now in his 15th major league season, the 36-year-old Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander knows his career is winding down. He would love to add a second one before retiring.

”Absolutely,” Burnett said. ”My goal every time out is to throw a no-hitter. I know they are major league hitters that I’m facing and I respect them, but my job is not to give up hits. You should go to the mound with that mindset.”

Burnett made a pretty good attempt as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Wednesday night, taking a no-hit bid into the seventh inning before Carlos Beltran doubled to right-center with two outs. That was the lone hit given up by Burnett in seven dominant innings.

”I looked at Carlos when he got to second base and said, ‘Couldn’t you have had one more swing-and-miss against me?”’ Burnett said with a smile.

Beltran said he hit a hanging slider.

”He threw me a slider the pitch before and I thought he would come back with it,” Beltran said. ”He left it out over the plate. It was about the only bad pitch he made. He was very good.”

The only other runner Burnett (1-2) allowed came when he hit Daniel Descalso with a 2-2 pitch with one out in the sixth to end his chances for a perfect game. Burnett struck out eight to raise his season total to 35 in 24 innings.

His latest bid for a no-hitter came on a night when he recorded the 2,000th strikeout of his career. Burnett reached the milestone when he caught Beltran looking to lead off the second.

”If anybody doesn’t appreciate what a milestone 2,000 strikeouts is, then they’ve never played the game or they have no respect for the game,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. ”You’re not going to be around long enough to have 2,000 strikeouts unless you have good stuff and also know how to pitch. It’s a great accomplishment.”

The game was stopped briefly when Pirates infielders and catcher Russell Martin went to the mound to shake Burnett’s hand. Burnett also gave a quick wave to the crowd of 9,570, which gave him a standing ovation.

”(Second baseman) Neil Walker had the idea for everyone to come shake my hand and it was really nice,” Burnett said. ”I feel so much love from these guys and I’m glad I could do it at home where these fans have been so great to me these last two years.”

Mark Melancon, Tony Watson and Jason Grilli completed the one-hitter. It was the Pirates’ second shutout of the season and the second time the Cardinals had been blanked.

Burnett’s no-hitter came on May 12, 2001, for the Florida Marlins in San Diego. That game was also notable for his nine walks. Burnett did not issue a free pass Wednesday night.

”That was an ugly no-hitter,” Burnett said. ”I want to throw a pretty one.”

St. Louis rookie Shelby Miller (2-1) pitched well despite taking his first loss in four career decisions. He gave up two runs and six hits in six innings with one walk and six strikeouts.

Andrew McCutchen and Walker each had two of Pittsburgh’s 11 hits.

The Pirates struck quickly against Miller as Starling Marte led off the first inning with a triple high off the right-field wall, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Travis Snider singled Marte home.

However, after Walker hit a two-out double in the first inning, Miller retired 15 consecutive batters.

McCutchen ended that streak with a two-out infield single in the sixth and scored on a single by Walker to make it 2-0.

”We had a chance to do some damage early but Miller got out of that first inning, then he shut us down,” Hurdle said. ”He was very impressive.”

Pittsburgh scored an unearned run in the seventh off Trevor Rosenthal on third baseman’s David Freese’s two-out throwing error on a grounder by Marte. The Pirates added two more in the eighth against Randy Choate as pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez doubled in a run and scored on Pedro Alvarez’s single.

”It was a well-pitched game on both sides,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ”Unfortunately for us, their guy was just a little bit better.”

— Associated Press —