ST. LOUIS (AP) — Zack Greinke felt as if he was becoming a little too predictable. So the Arizona right-hander decided to mix things up on Sunday.

“I even threw my curve more than I usually do,” Greinke said.

Greinke’s new approach led to a strong eight-inning performance as the Diamondbacks rolled to a 7-2 win over the Cardinals.

Paul Goldschmidt drove in a pair of runs and Michael Bourn added three hits for Arizona, which has won four of six.

The Diamondbacks won a series in St. Louis for the first time since April 18-20, 2003.

“I felt like I was mixing things up (well), making better pitches,” Greinke said.

Brandon Moss homered for the Cardinals, who fell to 3-3 on their nine-game homestand.

Greinke (5-3), who has won five of his past six starts, allowed five hits and one run. He struck out seven and walked one. Greinke used his fastball and changeup effectively as well. That balance kept the St. Louis hitters guessing all game.

The reigning NL ERA champion improved to 11-4 against St. Louis. He also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the third.

“He’s a tough pitcher to beat when he gets run support like that,” Bourn said. “We kept adding on and making it a little easier for him.”

Arizona scored three runs in the first off Jaime Garcia (3-4), who gave up five runs and 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings. Garcia failed to complete three innings for just the third time in 126 starts.

“I guess it was just one of those days, no excuse,” Garcia said. “I just didn’t have my stuff.”

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny agreed.

“It was an outing he’d like to forget, right from the get go,” he said.

Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury had run-scoring hits in the first. Goldschmidt pushed the lead to 4-0 with an RBI hit in the second.

Bourn, who has five hits over his past two games, singled in each of the first two innings. Arizona had 13 hits — 11 singles.

The Diamondbacks, who had lost 11 of their previous 14 games at Busch Stadium, were pleased to get out of St. Louis with their first series win in 13 years.

“Year-in, year-out, they’ve got a great team and that makes this even better,” Bourn said. `We came to play today and I think it showed.”

Moss hit his eighth homer of the season in the fourth inning.

TOUGH OUTING

Garcia threw 54 pitches and recorded only one swing and miss. That came on his 46th pitch.

TRAINER’S ROOM:

Cardinals: Jhonny Peralta went 0-for-2 in a rehab assignment with Class A Peoria on Saturday. Peralta is recovering from thumb surgery in March.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Shelby Miller (1-5, 6.64) will face LHP Francisco Liriano (3-3, 4.63) in the first of a three-game series at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Miller has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his past seven starts.

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (4-3, 5.92) takes on John Lackey (4-2, 3.31) in the first game of a three-game set on Monday. Wainwright has not allowed a run to the Cubs in his past three starts covering 20 innings.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Mike Leake was able to finally endear himself to the St. Louis Cardinals fans, while burning a team he wanted to sign with as a free agent this offseason.

Bouyed by home runs from Jedd Gyorko, Matt Adams and Yadier Molina, Leake pitched seven scoreless innings and the Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-2 on Saturday.

Leake wanted to go to the Diamondbacks, but ended up with the Cardinals after Arizona signed Zack Greinke and traded for Shelby Miller.

“It’s always nice to kind of I guess stick it to a team that it didn’t work out with,” Leake said. “At the end of the day it’s still another opponent and another team that you have to get through.”

Leake (3-3) retired eight straight between the second and fourth innings and battled back from a 3-0 count to strike out Chris Owings in the fifth to help thwart the Diamondbacks’ best scoring opportunity against him.

“We needed Mike today,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “He did a great job, was solid right from the start and had everything he was looking for, did a great job of mixing it up and getting ground balls and guys made real nice plays behind him. He made nice plays himself.”

It was Leake’s third straight win and first at home as a Cardinal. During that span, Leake has a 0.85 ERA.

“I was trying to pound the ball into the zone and get productive outs,” Leake said. “I think we accomplished that today.”

Leake even showed off at the plate with a double to left in the sixth. The righty also made a nice barehanded play to throw out Rickie Weeks Jr. at first in the seventh.

“Same old, same old from him,” Weeks said of Leake. “Back door sinkers, cutters, he kept the ball down. Obviously, we hit the ball pretty good I thought, but it was right at people on the ground. Obviously, it’s tough to get runs on the board when you keep pounding the ball in the ground.”

Diamondbacks starter Robbie Ray (2-3) battled through five innings, only one of which was clean. He gave up two runs, stranded six runners, walked four and threw 65 of his 102 pitches for strikes.

Gyorko made Arizona pay in the second for allowing Adams to reach ahead of him on an error, smashing a 2-0 pitch into the Diamondbacks’ bullpen. He also added an RBI single in the seventh.

Adams went opposite field for a solo home run in the sixth and Molina’s two-run blast in the seventh was his first since Aug. 19, 2015 against San Francisco.

“The way everything’s going right now that’s where I want it to be when I’m in the box,” Adams said. “I’m standing on my back side and swinging at good pitches right now.”

Weeks hit a Trevor Rosenthal pitch into the Diamondbacks bullpen in the ninth for the Diamondbacks’ only runs. It was Weeks’ first homer of the season.

The Diamondbacks proceeded to load the bases, bringing the game-tying run to the plate before Rosenthal got the final out.

HIGH-QUALITY LEATHER

Leake was helped by two great back-to-back catches in the fourth by Matt Holliday and Stephen Piscotty. Holliday snared a tailing line drive off the bat of Brandon Drury on the left field track and Piscotty crashed into the right field wall to rob Paul Goldschmidt of an extra base hit.

TRAINING ROOM

Diamondbacks: RHP Josh Collmenter (shoulder) will make his fifth rehab start on Sunday for Triple-A Reno. He’s expected to make one more rehab appearance before the team must make a decision.

Cardinals: Highly touted minor leaguer RHP Alex Reyes will make his first start of the season Sunday at Triple-A Memphis after being reinstated from a 50-game suspension after testing positive for marijuana use.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Greinke (4-3, 5.08 ERA) will pitch the rubber game of the series. He earned the win his last start against the New York Yankees and is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in three road starts this season.

Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (3-3, 2.86 ERA) is 5-0 with a 2.94 ERA in six career starts against Arizona. He has not allowed a home run to an NL West batter in his last 171 batters faced since Arizona’s Nick Ahmed hit one on May 26, 2015.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adam Wainwright said his curveball was the best it’s been all season. The sinker was, too.

That spelled bad news for Colorado Rockies hitters, and welcome relief for his ERA.

The St. Louis Cardinals’ ace threw six-hit ball into the seventh inning in his strongest start after a shaky beginning and Matt Holliday had a two-run double to end the Rockies’ five-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory Wednesday night.

“It’s very hard not to know kind of where you’re at because people will tell you,” Wainwright said. “Somebody will text you you’re whole stat line. I know I’ve got probably 20-something more starts and a lot of really, really good things can happen.”

Rockies cleanup hitter Carlos Gonzalez found out right away that Wainwright was on his game when he broke his bat on a soft lineout to the mound in the first.

“So far his year has not been very good,” Gonzalez said. “But he’s just one of those pitchers that’s got a really good track record, and he pitched like the old Wainwright.”

Stephen Piscotty had three hits and scored a run for the Cardinals, who had lost three of four.

Chris Rusin (1-2) allowed two runs in six innings for the Rockies, who averaged five runs a game during the winning streak, which was their longest since a six-game run Sept. 16-21, 2014.

“I had good movement on my ball, I was hitting my spots,” Rusin said. “Just the ball bounced the wrong way to Holliday. A ground ball and you can live with that.”

Holliday is batting .385 with 11 homers and 37 RBI in 40 games against the Rockies, for whom he played from 2004-08. He had been in an 0-for-15 slump before the hit.

“Matty stepped up for me, that was a huge hit,” Wainwright said. “That lineup is very tough, so when you get ahead of them you have to stay ahead.”

Wainwright (4-3) worked a season-high 6 2/3 innings, one-third of an inning longer than his previous best, and lowered his ERA 88 points to a still-unsightly 5.92. He’s 8-1 with a 1.31 ERA for his career against Colorado and is 4-0 in his last five starts overall.

“I’ve continued to stay positive,” Wainwright said. “Even when you’re struggling, you stay positive and a lot of good things can come out of it.”

Kevin Siegrist struck out Charlie Blackmon looking with two on to end the seventh and Trevor Rosenthal earned his eighth save in nine chances.

Rusin was much improved from last two outings, in which he allowed 10 runs in 11 innings.

KEEP IT CLOSE

The Rockies stayed in it with several nice defensive plays. Third baseman Nolen Arenado made a diving stop to start a double play in the first, denying Yadier Molina’s bid for an RBI hit. Blackmon made a running catch in right-center on a liner by Molina to end the third and first baseman Mark Reynolds foiled a squeeze bunt attempt by Wainwright in the fourth, shoveling to the plate for an easy out.

AVOIDING DAMAGE

Shortstop Aledmys Diaz booted a double-play grounder for his 10th error in the first but the Rockies stranded two when Reynolds lined out.

GOOD CONTROL

Wainwright has walked one or fewer in seven consecutive starts. His only free pass Wednesday was to D.J. LeMahieu with one out in the seventh.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Rockies: Suspended SS Jose Reyes will head to extended spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona, on Thursday. He’s eligible to return June 1.

Cardinals: SS Jhonny Peralta (left thumb) homered taking batting practice for the first time since being injured early in spring training and is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon.

UP NEXT

Rockies: Jon Gray (1-1, 4.71) earned his first career victory his last time out, striking out eight in seven innings against the Mets.

Cardinals: Michael Wacha (2-4, 3.23) has lost four consecutive starts for the first time in his career.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Chad Bettis took a shutout into the seventh inning and drove in a run to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Nolan Arrenado and Dustin Garneau had RBI singles, and Bettis added a run-scoring grounder as the Rockies got their season-high fifth straight win and won for only the fifth time in 22 games at Busch Stadium since 2010.

Bettis (4-2) didn’t give up a hit until Jeremy Hazelbaker beat out an infield single leading off the fifth. The right-hander allowed five singles in 6 2/3 innings, walking two and striking out four.

Jake McGee got the last three outs for his fifth save in the past six days and 13th of the season.

Jaime Garcia (3-3) allowed three runs and five singles with four walks in five innings for St. Louis.

Arenado drove in Colorado’s first run with a two-out single in the third after Charlie Blackmon singled and stole second.

The Rockies added two in the fourth on a leadoff walk to Mark Reynolds, singles by DJ LeMahieu and Garneau and the fielder’s choice grounder by Bettis.

The Cardinals finally reached Bettis in the seventh when they scored on consecutive two-out singles by Almedys Diaz, Kolten Wong and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk.

Bettis worked at least six innings for the eighth consecutive start in his first appearance at Busch Stadium. He allowed only two base runners in scoring position until tiring.

TOP PROSPECT NEARS RETURN

Hard-throwing RHP Alex Reyes, the Cardinals’ No. 1-rated prospect, is expected to make his season debut Sunday for Triple-A Memphis. Reyes’ fastball has been clocked at 101 mph in extended-spring training outings against minor-leaguers. Reyes has been serving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for marijuana last fall.

TRAINING ROOM

Rockies: RHP Jason Motte (shoulder) retired two of the five batters he faced against Round Rock in his third rehab outing for Triple-A Albuquerque. Motte has yet to pitch in the majors this season.

Cardinals: OF Tommy Pham (oblique) was sent to Memphis after being reinstated from the disabled list. Pham hit .281 in a 10-game rehab assignment split between Double-A and Triple-A.

UP NEXT

Rockies: LHP Chris Rusin (1-1, 4.85 ERA) will make his fourth start after working out of the bullpen until April 30. He gave up four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 5-1 loss against Arizona last Tuesday.

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (3-3, 6.80) allowed six earned runs and a season-high 11 hits in five innings against the Angels on Thursday. Wainwright has given up at least three earned runs in each of his first eight starts. He is 7-1 with a 1.45 ERA in his career against Colorado

— Associated Press —

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matt Carpenter homered for the fifth time in eight games, Yadier Molina had a tiebreaking two-run double in the top of the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 on Sunday night to avoid being swept in the three-game series.

Molina pinch hit for starting pitcher Mike Leake and put the Cardinals up 3-1 when he lined reliever Joe Blanton’s pitch into the left field corner with two outs. Stephen Piscotty followed with an RBI single off Blanton two batters later.

Leake (2-3) pitched six innings to win his second straight start, and Trevor Rosenthal got his seventh save.

Corey Seager homered twice for the Dodgers, the first multihomer game of his career.

J.P. Howell (1-1) took the loss after allowing a one-out single to Jeremy Hazelbaker, who scored on Molina’s double.

Carpenter opened the scoring with a two-out solo home run to right in the top of the third, but Seager responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-out solo homer of his own down the left field line.

It stayed tied until Blanton intentionally walked Brandon Moss with Molina on deck in the seventh. Molina made the Dodgers pay for that decision, turning on a 1-0 slider to bring Hazelbaker and Moss home.

After Carpenter was intentionally walked, Piscotty added to the lead with an RBI single to left to make it 4-1 and extend his hitting streak to eight games.

The Cardinals added another run off Blanton in the eighth when Randal Grichuk led off with a double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and trotted home on Aledmys Diaz’s sacrifice fly.

Seager launched his second solo homer of the night off Kevin Siegrist in the eighth.

Molina’s big hit gave Leake the win after he went six innings and gave up four hits and one run for his second-straight quality start.

Alex Wood surrendered only three hits and one run in six innings but took a no-decision and remains winless in his last six starts for the Dodgers.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: SS Jhonny Peralta (torn thumb ligament) continued swinging a bat and is expected to participate in his first full batting practice this week.

Dodgers: LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (shoulder surgery) pitched two scoreless innings in a rehab start for Class A Rancho Cucamonga. He allowed one hit and struck out two in his first appearance since Sept. 12, 2014.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (3-2, 2.58) opens a three-game home series against Colorado on Tuesday. He’s thrown seven innings without allowing an earned run each of his last two starts.

Dodgers: RHP Kenta Maeda (3-2, 2.30) starts the first of four games against the crosstown rival Angels on Monday. The Japanese rookie is 0-2 with a 5.09 ERA in his last three starts after beginning his MLB career 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA.

— Associated Press —

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scott Kazmir pitched 8 2/3 innings, Adrian Gonzalez and Corey Seager homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Saturday night.

Gonzalez hit a solo home run, his fourth of the season, to lead off the fourth inning. Seager, who had three hits, ripped a solo home run in the seventh inning.

Kazmir (3-3) allowed three runs on five hits, struck out seven and walked one. He was nearly flawless until Jeremy Hazelbaker hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run to pull the Cardinals within two runs in the ninth. Closer Kenley Jansen recorded the final out for his 13th save.

The Dodgers scored three runs in the fifth after Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez (4-3) loaded the bases with no outs. Martinez left after that.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Gregory Polanco helped the Pittsburgh Pirates serve up a nice slice of victory pie.

Polanco went the opposite way for a three-run homer and John Jaso added a two-run drive, leading Gerrit Cole and the Pirates over the St. Louis Cardinals 10-5 Sunday.

Facing reliever Matt Bowman, Polanco capped a four-run seventh inning by slicing his homer barely over the wall in left field, just inside the foul pole.

“I was looking for a good pitch. He threw me one that was out and over the plate and it was something I could drive,” Polanco said. “Whenever you hit the ball to the opposite field, it’s good. I stayed with the pitch and hit it that way.”

“I was a little surprised it went out. I was more worried about it staying fair,” he said.

Cole (3-3) gave up two runs and six hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

“He stayed aggressive and used all his pitches,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “I felt it was a really good bounce-back start from his last start. As the game went along, he got stronger.”

Mark Melancon relieved with the bases loaded in the ninth and got Yadier Molina to ground into a game-ending double play for his ninth save.

The Pirates took two of three at Busch Stadium and have won five of six from St. Louis this season.

“It’s always going to be a spirited series,” Hurdle said. “They play hard, they’re well-coached and they play to the finish. The way I look at it, we were a bad-bounce ground-rule double away from a sweep. It’s hard work to come in here and win, but we did it.”

Michael Wacha (2-3) lost his third consecutive decision for only the second time in his career, the first coming in 2014. He allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in six innings.

“I thought he was good,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “I thought his stuff looked very good. They were grinding out some of their at-bats.”

In his last three starts against the Pirates, Wacha has given up 15 runs and 20 hits in 14 1/3 innings.

Pittsburgh scored three times in the fifth for a 3-1 lead. After a one-out walk, Chris Stewart hit an RBI double.

“The one-out walk in the fifth got things going and it kind of snowballed,” Matheny said.

After fouling off several pitches, Jaso homered just over the wall in right field with two outs.

“He has a plan. He’s a very quiet guy but he’s a very cerebral guy,” Hurdle said. “He always goes up there with a plan. He’ll (swing) early, have extended at-bats.”

Wacha said Jaso hung tough in the at-bat that ended with the homer.

“I left a mistake changeup in the top of the zone and he didn’t miss,” Wacha said. “He put together a great at-bat.”

The Pirates added a run in the sixth when former Cardinals star David Freese hit an RBI single. He drove in Starling Marte, who doubled twice and singled.

Jaso, who had three hits, doubled home a run in the seventh against Bowman. Polanco added his homer for an 8-2 lead.

Rookie Jeremy Hazelbaker hit his sixth homer for St. Louis. Stephen Piscotty added four hits.

Molina had a two-run, two-out single in a three-run eighth for the Cardinals.

MOTHER’S DAY

Pirates: Pittsburgh wore new Mother’s Day uniforms and caps. The gray jersey had pink in the Pirates’ logo. The players all wore pink spikes. The Pirates also swung pink bats as teams have done since 2006 to raise funds and awareness to fight breast cancer.

Cardinals: St. Louis wore uniforms that incorporated pink in the Cardinals logo. Players wore dark gray hats highlighted by a hot pink STL logo and the jersey featured the Cardinals’ bird-on-the-bat logo in pink with uniform numbers in pink on the back. The Cardinals also wore pink spikes.

UMPIRES

Tom Woodring joined the crew and he umpired second base. Plate umpire Dana DeMuth left Saturday’s game after the second inning to be evaluated for a possible concussion. DeMuth was hit in the mask by a foul ball.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: 3B Jung Ho Kang was out of the starting lineup Sunday after playing back-to-back games. Kang made his season debut Friday in his return from a knee injury last September. He pinch-hit in the eighth inning.

Cardinals: Tommy Pham, out with a left oblique strain since opening day, remains on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Memphis that began Wednesday. Pham hit an RBI single in a 2-1 loss Saturday. The Cardinals said there is no timetable for Pham’s return.

UP NEXT

Pirates: Jonathon Niese (3-1, 5.94) at Cincinnati on Monday. Niese will be making his seventh start. He lost his first decision in his last start, allowing six runs in five innings in a 7-1 home loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Cardinals: On Tuesday, Mike Leake (0-3, 6.03) at Los Angeles Angels. It will be Leake’s seventh start and he is looking to earn his first win of the season as a member of the Cardinals. He has allowed four or more runs in his first six starts. In his last four starts, Leake has given up six home runs.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jung Ho Kang homered twice and Francisco Liriano continued his dominance at Busch Stadium as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Friday night.

Kang, who was activated from the disabled list before the game, ripped the first pitch he saw from Tyler Lyons into the right field bullpen for a two-run homer to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead in the sixth. Kang followed with a 427-foot homer into the upper deck in left in the eighth.

Liriano (3-1) improved to 4-0 with a 2.07 ERA in six career starts at Busch Stadium. Liriano fanned 10 through seven innings for his 24th career double-digit strikeout performance of his career.

Mark Melancon got his eighth save for Pittsburgh, which won its fifth straight road game and improved to 4-0 against the Cardinals this season.

Josh Harrison’s infield single scored Starling Marte to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the second. Harrison has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games and has nine RBI during that stretch.

Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez (4-2) left with one out in the fourth due to fatigue. He walked two of the three batters he faced in the inning to load the bases when he came out in favor of Lyons.

Martinez gave up a run in 3 1/3 innings and 29 of his 52 pitches were strikes.

Randal Grichuk scored from second on a Liriano wild pitch and Aledmys Diaz scored on a sacrifice fly in the seventh for the Cardinals runs.

BASE BURGLAR

Marte’s stolen base in the second inning was the first swipe off of Martinez in 36 innings this season. Only two runners stole bases in seven attempts against Martinez last season.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: IF Jason Rogers was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis to make room for Kang.

Cardinals: C Brayan Pena (knee) took swings from both sides of the plate from a tee and ran at 75 percent for 20 minutes on a treadmill. No timetable for a return has been set.

“They say that I’m a little bit ahead of schedule,” Pena said. “I wasn’t expecting to hit this soon and for me to go out there and hit the way I did, I felt like a 20-year-old again.”

UP NEXT

Pirates: LHP Jeff Locke (1-2, 4.473 ERA) will start the second of a three-game series on Saturday. He is 2-4 with a 3.98 ERA in eight career starts against St. Louis.

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (2-3, 6.68) is seeking his third straight win. He slugged his seventh career home run Monday against the Phillies and became the first MLB pitcher to get three straight extra base hits since Arizona’s Micah Owings on Aug. 18, 2007.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jaime Garcia watched in wonder as teammate Brandon Moss launched a moonshot at Busch Stadium.

Garcia pitched seven sharp innings Thursday as the St. Louis Cardinals blanked the Philadelphia Phillies.

Later, Garcia wanted to rave about the 462-foot drive by Moss. It was the longest home run by a left-handed hitter in the history of new Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006.

“It was a bomb,” Garcia said. “He hit it a long way.”

Garcia also was impressive. The left-hander gave up just two hits, walked none and struck out five.

Garcia (2-2) threw 82 pitches, 61 for strikes.

“As far as stuff, it’s been great,” Garcia said. “I’ve just got to continue to build on that.”

The Phillies were certainly impressed.

“Basically, he had us eating out of his hands,” manager Pete Mackanin said. “He did everything you could ask a pitcher to do.”

Stephen Piscotty drove in two runs and also made an outstanding catch in right field to help preserve the shutout.

Moss unloaded off Jerad Eickhoff (1-4) for a solo homer in the first inning.

“I feel like I hit it really well,” Moss said. “I’m still searching for consistency, but I’ll take that one. Any homer is a good homer.”

Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal took over to pitch the ninth and gave up two quick singles.

Andres Blanco followed with a foul flyball to right and Piscotty ran a long way, then made a hard, headfirst dive onto the dirt for the catch.

“It was a great effort by our guys all over the field,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. “We put together something late offensively, something good to build on.”

The Phillies threatened in the fifth after Cameron Rupp and Tyler Goeddel singled, but Peter Bourjos lined into a double play.

St. Louis scored three times in the seventh. Ruben Tejada hit a sacrifice fly and Piscotty delivered a bases-loaded double with two outs.

The Phillies scored just eight runs in the four-game series and lost three times. They were shut out twice.

“We’re not frustrated at all,” shortstop Freddy Galvis said. “That’s baseball right there. Sometimes you’re going to score runs, sometimes you’re not. We’ll be fine. We just have to keep working.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams exited the game in the fourth because of a bruised left knee. He collided with Rupp on a play at first base in the first inning. He is listed as day-to-day.

“He took a knee to the quad,” Matheny said.

UP NEXT

Phillies: RHP Vince Velasquez (4-1, 1.44) will open a three-game series at Miami on Friday. He has not allowed an earned run in three of five starts this season. He will be opposed by LHP Wei-Yin Chen (2-1, 4.26) The Phillies are in the middle of a 10-game road trip.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (4-1, 2.60) faces Pittsburgh LHP Francisco Liriano (2-1, 3.86) in the opener of a three-game series on Friday. Martinez had pitched at least six innings in all five starts this season.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matt Holliday delivered the St. Louis Cardinals’ first walk-off win of the season on Wednesday night and then was mobbed by his teammates.

“That’s why I work out,” he said, “just in case something like that happens.”

The Cardinals scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and Holliday’s RBI single with two outs was the difference in a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

“It was an important game for us to win,” Holliday said. “We needed it and we need to win tomorrow to win the series. All games are important but this was one we needed to win.”

The Cardinals had lost five of their last six while the Phillies had won seven of eight and 10 of 12.

St. Louis rallied in the ninth against Phillies closer Jeanmar Gomez, who had converted his first nine save opportunities this season.

Pinch-hitter Kolten Wong led off with a walk. With one out, pinch-hitter Matt Adams doubled off the wall in right-center, a play that was reviewed to see whether it went over the fence.

“I thought it hit that flower bed out there and bounced back,” Adams said. “I saw the umpire’s arms signal not a homer and I just had to get to second safely.”

After an intentional walk to load the bases with one out, Stephen Piscotty delivered an RBI infield single to tie the game and pitcher Carlos Martinez, pinch running for Adams, was out after rounding third.

Holliday then smacked a single through the left side of the infield to drive home the winning run.

“It’s, I think, a great example of the fight in this team to not let a 4-0 lead get us down and to fight right back so that’s a big win,” said Piscotty, who had three hits and two RBI. “That’s a confidence booster. We’re going to hopefully keep that momentum going.”

Ryan Howard’s seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot to center field in the fourth inning, gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead. That was the St. Louis native’s 23rd homer in 67 career games against the Cardinals.

Odubel Herrera added a solo home run in the fifth, his third, to make it 4-0.

Cardinals starter Mike Leake, the team’s big free agent addition of the offseason, entered the game with an 0-3 record and 5.83 ERA. He allowed four runs and four hits in five innings, his ERA rising to 6.03 after six starts.

The Cardinals scored three runs in the fifth with the help of two reviews.

Ruben Tejada led off the inning with a hit down the third-base line that was originally called foul but ruled a double after a 5-minute review. After a walk to Eric Fryer and pinch-hit single by Brandon Moss, Aledmys Diaz hit a single off the glove of shortstop Freddy Galvis that scored two runs. Fryer was safe at home on a close play that was reviewed, but not overturned.

Piscotty followed with an RBI single to score Moss and chase Phillies starter Adam Morgan, who allowed three runs and six hits in four-plus innings.

Phillies left fielder Tyler Goeddel made a catch at the wall to take a hit away from Jedd Gyorko to end the eighth inning.

“We walked five guys and three of them scored so the walks kind of hurt us,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. “But like I said Gomez walked the leadoff guy, which I wasn’t real happy about, but then he had a situation to get a ground ball. That’s what we wanted him to do, and he gave us a ground ball that found a hole.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Tommy Pham, out with a left oblique strain since opening day, began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Memphis on Wednesday night. He went 1 for 2 with a two-run single, walk and stolen base.

WHO’S ON FIRST?

Yadier Molina got a break from his catching duties on Wednesday and became the Cardinals’ fifth starter at first base this season. Adams and Moss have started 11 games there, while Holliday has started four and Matt Carpenter has started one.

UP NEXT

Phillies: RHP Jerad Eickhoff (1-3, 4.15) has never faced the Cardinals. He is coming off a no-decision against Cleveland after allowing three runs and six hits over six innings.

Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (1-2, 3.73) will make his eighth start and 10th career appearance against Philadelphia. He is 2-4 with a 3.27 ERA in his previous nine appearances against the Phillies.

— Associated Press —