ST. LOUIS (AP) — Peter Bourjos’ well-rested legs made all the difference both at the top of the batting order and in center field for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bourjos made just his second start of the season count by hitting a game-tying RBI triple and scoring the go-ahead run by beating the throw home on an infield tapper to fuel a four-run fifth inning in a 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night.

“Any time you get a chance to start and play, it’s a lot of fun,” Bourjos said. “It’s a tough role, but when you can get some hits and help the team win, it makes it even more special.”

Carlos Martinez (3-0) allowed two runs in six innings and Matt Adams doubled twice with an RBI.

Ryan Howard hit his 20th career homer against St. Louis, 11 coming in his hometown, and Odubel Herrera had two hits and an RBI. Aaron Harang (2-2) surrendered five runs in six innings, ending a career-best run of eight consecutive quality starts dating to last September.

Bourjos entered 7 for 15 against Harang with a homer and four RBIs, no doubt factoring into his starting considering he was just 1 for 10 on the season.

“He’s got pretty good stuff, but for some reason I have pretty good at-bats against him,” Bourjos said. “It’s just something I can’t explain.”

Neither could Harang.

“There’s just guys that have your number and it always seems to be the leadoff hitter, those pesky guys, that get me more often than the big guys,” Harang said.

Bourjos made a nice running catch to rob Chase Utley of extra bases and an RBI to end the seventh.

“His speed plays big,” Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said. “I don’t know if any other center fielder, might be one, catches Chase’s ball.”

Howard’s throw home on Matt Carpenter’s grounder to first base was not quick enough to catch Bourjos, who slid in ahead of catcher Carlos Ruiz’s tag. The Phillies unsuccessfully challenged the call, believing that Bourjos might have been late getting his foot on the base.

Adams and Jhonny Peralta added RBIs later in the inning. Kolten Wong had a two-out RBI single in the second to give St. Louis the early lead.

Howard hit his fourth homer in the fourth, a drive just over the fence into the home bullpen in right that gave him 39 RBIs in 33 career games in St. Louis. He grounded out his other three at-bats against an over-shifted defense, each time to Wong, the second baseman, standing in shallow right field.

“No, I don’t like it at all,” Howard said. “That’s four hits. I’m hitting the ball hard, it’s just that guys are playing shifts.”

Howard batted fifth behind Jeff Francoeur and hedged at first when asked whether he thought he should be back at cleanup, ultimately saying it was up to Sandberg.

“I feel like I’m a four-hole guy,” he said. “I’ve been there most of my career. That’s his call.”

Trevor Rosenthal earned his eighth save in eight chances for the NL Central leaders.

UP NEXT

Phillies: David Buchanan has lost all four starts this year and was 0-3 in his last nine starts last season with his last win on Aug. 6. During the 13-game drought he’s thrown seven quality starts.

Cardinals: LHP Tim Cooney takes injured Adam Wainwright’s spot in the rotation and will be making his major league debut. The 24-year-old Cooney, who grew up in a Philadelphia suburb rooting for the Phillies, is 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA in three starts at Triple-A Memphis.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Phillies: OF Domonic Brown reported to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the end of a rehab assignment for a left Achilles injury.

Cardinals: OF Randal Grichuk, on the DL since April 17 with a lower back strain, has participated in pre-game activities all three games in the series.

CONTROL ROOM

Phillies pitchers entered the game with a major league-high 86 walks, but they issued just two on Wednesday — both to Matt Holliday.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Harang made a rough slide into third advancing on a wild pitch in the fifth inning. He had thought it would be easy taking the bag but also respected catcher Yadier Molina’s arm.

“That was one of those ones where you’re running thinking `Let’s slide. No I don’t need to slide. Yeah, I need to slide. No I’m not going to slide. Yeah, let’s slide.” Harang joked.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Juggling the batting order paid off for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Facing a pitcher making his major league debut did not hurt either.

The Cardinals scored seven runs off Severino Gonzalez in the first three innings and beat the Philadelphia Phillies 11-5 on Tuesday night. St. Louis finished with a season high in runs and hits (15) to win for the first time in three games.

Trying to jolt his offense, manager Mike Matheny moved Matt Carpenter out of the leadoff spot for the first time in nearly two years. Jason Heyward was dropped from second to sixth and Jon Jay took over at the top of the order. All three contributed in their new places in the order.

Carpenter tripled and scored in the first, had an RBI double in the fifth and walked and scored in the eighth. The double was his 12th, most in the majors and the most in franchise history after 19 games.

“It’s hard to argue with the team’s 15 hits and 11 runs,” Heyward said of the changes. “Our lineup’s flexible and that’s what is awesome about it.”

Heyward reached base four times and scored twice and Jay added two RBI singles.

“We like what we saw,” said Matheny, who said he switched the order because Heyward had been struggling and he wanted to put Carpenter in a better position to drive in runs. “They were clicking pretty good. We like the way it went.”

Matt Holliday, hitting in his usual third spot, and Matt Adams each added three hits for the Cardinals. Holliday also scored three runs and had an RBI as every player in the Cardinals’ starting lineup finished with at least a hit, run or RBI.

Michael Wacha (4-0) drove in two runs and pitched 5 2/3 innings to win for the fourth time in four starts. He gave up a season-high four runs and six hits.

“My command just wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” Wacha said. “But those guys putting together great at-bats made my job easier.”

Gonzalez (0-1) yielded seven runs and 10 hits in 2 2/3 innings.

“He left some balls over the plate and we capitalized,” Jay said.

Added Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg: “He didn’t really establish both sides of the plate with his fastball. It seemed like most of the balls were out over the plate and they had good swings at them. It was an experience for him.”

Freddy Galvis singled three times and scored twice for Philadelphia. Rookie Odubel Herrera doubled and had two RBIs.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Phillies: OF Domonic Brown was eligible to return to the majors after finishing a 20-day rehab assignment, but after being removed from the disabled list, the 2013 All-Star was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Brown was on the disabled list because of left Achilles tendinitis. After he went 5 for 42 in the last part of his rehab assignment, the Phillies decided not to bring him to the majors. Manager Ryne Sandberg said Brown would stay in the minors until “he’s ready to come here and help us.”

Cardinals: If RHP Adam Wainwright had not been injured, he was scheduled to make his next start on Thursday. Instead, he will be undergoing surgery on his left Achilles that day and LHP Tim Cooney will start in his place. Cooney, 24, will be making his major league debut.

A FIRST FOR PANAMA

For the first time in major league history, a pitcher born in Panama (Gonzalez) started a game throwing to a catcher born in Panama (Carlos Ruiz).

HIT AWAY

Even though Wainwright’s season-ending injury happened while batting, he is not ready to see the National League adopt the designated hitter. “Baseball is a National League game,” Wainwright said. “I wish both leagues would convert to National League baseball. You can’t point to another instance that the pitcher has hurt on Achilles (batting). The game in the National League is just a better game.”

UP NEXT

RHP Aaron Harang, who has made more starts against the Cardinals than any active pitcher, will start for the Phillies on Wednesday night. In 27 starts against St. Louis, Harang is 7-15 with a 4.27 ERA. He has not beaten the Cardinals since 2009. RHP Carlos Martinez, 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA, will start for the Cardinals.

— Associated Press —