Associated Press

Carlos Villanueva’s most important contribution may have been at the plate.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ right-hander worked six solid innings in a 6-3 victory over the sagging St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. He also drew a leadoff walk in the third, setting the stage for a five-run rally capped by Juan Rivera’s three-run home run.

Villanueva (5-1) is a career .078 hitter with three RBIs in 64 at-bats.

“Well, you know I’m not the best hitter, but what I try to do is make him throw as many pitches as possible,” Villanueva said. “I know when I’m out there I don’t want to go into deep counts with the pitcher, because it just gets your pitch count up.

“A couple of close pitches went my way and we had a productive inning,” he said.

Jaime Garcia (6-3) kept his home ERA at a minuscule 0.88 — best in the major leagues — because four of the runs in Toronto’s big inning were unearned due to third baseman Daniel Descalso’s two-out throwing error. But the left-hander surrendered Rivera’s sixth homer the next at-bat and walked three in the inning, including Jose Bautista intentionally to load the bases.

Rivera said Garcia got him on a flyout with a changeup in the second inning. The next time, he punished a changeup.

“That was my plan going to the plate,” Rivera said. “Any time a pitcher gets me out with one pitch, I try to look for that pitch.”

Garcia had four strikeouts and four walks, one off his season high, in seven innings.

“The last thing you want to do is walk the pitcher, especially for an American League team,” Garcia said. “Their pitchers don’t hit. What’s he going to do?”

Edwin Encarnacion homered off Ryan Franklin’s first pitch in the ninth and Aaron Hill added two hits and a walk for Toronto, which clinched the series win right after getting swept at Atlanta. Reliever Frank Francisco’s two-out throwing error in the ninth gave the Cardinals an unearned run. St. Louis had the tying run at the plate before Ryan Theriot grounded out.

Theriot and Jon Jay had two hits apiece for the Cardinals, who have lost 11 of 14 and are 1-4 minus injured Albert Pujols. Matt Holliday was ejected for arguing a called third strike with two on and none out in the eighth and the next batter, Lance Berkman, grounded into an inning-ending double play against Marc Rzepczynski.

The Cardinals lost only their second series to an AL East opponent, the other coming in a sweep at the New York Yankees in 2003.

Garcia followed the walk to Villanueva with another walk to leadoff man Yunel Escobar. Adam Lind had a sacrifice fly to tie it at 1 the at-bat before Descalso made a diving stop on J.P. Arencibia’s smash down the line but made a throw that forced Berkman to leap high above first base to snare the throw, and Berkman appeared to land on the bag about the same time as Arencibia’s foot.

“I thought it was a real bang-banger, a banger, bang-bang,” manager Tony La Russa said. “Lance thought he had him. I can’t tell.”

Rivera had been in a 2-for-12 slump and had totaled five RBIs this month before homering on a 1-0 pitch.

Cardinals Media Relations

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today the signing of University of Hawaii second baseman Kolten Wong, the team’s first overall selection in the 2011 First Year player draft.  Wong, 20, posted a career .358 batting average (245-for-684) with 47 doubles, 25 home runs and 145 RBI at Hawaii with a career slugging pct. of .563 and a .449 on-base pct.  A left-handed hitter, he also started games at catcher and centerfield during his time at Hawaii.

“Kolten will start his professional career right away and that is a benefit to both him and for the Cardinals,” said Cardinals Vice President of Scouting & Player Development, Jeff Luhnow.  “He is a special player and our fans in Quad Cities will find that out very soon.”

The Hilo, Hawaii native started 57 games as a junior this season for the Rainbows and led his team in almost every offensive category during the 2011 season.  The 5’9”, 180-pound Wong was drafted in the 16th round of the 2008 First-Year Player draft by the Minnesota Twins, but did not sign.

“I’m excited to get my professional career started,” said Wong.  “It’s always been a dream of mine to play professional baseball. Hopefully some day soon I will be playing for the Cardinals here in St. Louis.”

Wong becomes the fifth 1st round pick from the 2011 Major League Baseball draft class to have signed.  He will be assigned to the Quad Cities (A) roster, reporting there on Monday.

Associated Press

Jose Bautista’s major league-leading 23rd home run in the top of the ninth inning helped the Toronto Blue Jays snap a four-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Bautista’s one-out drive off Fernando Salas (4-2) barely cleared the wall in right field, landing just past the outstretched glove of a leaping Jon Jay and in the Cardinals’ bullpen. He has homered in the last two games after hitting only one in a 22-game stretch.

Colby Rasmus and Matt Holliday homered for the Cardinals, who have lost 10 of 13 and are 1-3 without injured Albert Pujols.

Bautista doubled and scored in the first, flied out to the warning track in left and drew an intentional walk.

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.

Associated Press

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley each had a two-run single during Philadelphia’s season-best nine-run eighth inning, lifting the Phillies to a 10-2 rout over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Carlos Ruiz had four hits and one of two bases-loaded walks in the eighth for NL East-leading Phillies, who have won Roy Halladay’s last seven starts but put it together too late for the right-hander to become the majors’ first 10-game winner. Two days earlier, Cole Hamels missed his bid for No. 10 in a 2-0 loss at Seattle.

Halladay allowed a run and four hits in six innings, matching his season low in his first official appearance in St. Louis but on the mound where he started for the American League in the 2009 All-Star game. He has worked six or more innings in 62 consecutive road starts, the majors’ best such streak since Walter Johnson put up 82 in a row from 1911-15.

Daniel Descalso had two of St. Louis’ five hits in the Cardinals’ first game since Albert Pujols was diagnosed with a broken left wrist. St. Louis has dropped eight of 10 and fell a half-game behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead.

The Phillies are among four teams with a winning record on the road, going 18-16, and busted out of a three-game stretch in which they’d totaled seven runs.

Halladay struck out five to take the major league lead at 119. He failed to reach 100 pitches for the first time in 16 starts this year when he was lifted ahead of pinch-hitter Ross Gload’s RBI single against Kyle McClellan that tied it at 1 in the seventh.

Trever Miller (0-1) retired one of the three batters he faced to start the eighth, and it got much worse from there for the Cardinals.

Jason Motte hit his only two batters, forcing in the tying run when he plunked Placido Polanco on a full count. Pinch-hitter Ben Francisco put Philadelphia in front with a single off Brian Tallet and Miguel Batista walked Ruiz and pinch-hitter Michael Martinez in succession with the bases loaded to put the Phillies up 5-2 on only two hits.

Rollins’ big hit came off Batista and Utley delivered against Maikel Cleto as the Phillies topped their previous best of seven runs in an inning. Cardinals relievers toiled for 64 pitches to get three outs.