The noise Josh Hamilton’s bat made when it connected with Edward Mujica’s changeup was music to his ears, and those of his Los Angeles Angels teammates.

Hamilton hit a tying two-run homer in Los Angeles’ three-run ninth inning, and the Angels rallied for a 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

”It was just a good feeling to hear that sound come off your bat,” Hamilton said. ”… It couldn’t happen on a better day for the crowd on the Fourth of July. They got a little more fireworks and a little more bang for their buck than they thought they were going to get. It was cool.

”Anytime you can contribute like that, especially in the late innings and have a comeback like that, it’s a pretty special feeling.”

Mark Trumbo belted his 19th homer and Mike Trout had two RBIs for Los Angeles, which took two of three in the series. Scott Downs (2-2) got three outs for the victory.

”Whether we won that game or not, this team never gives up,” Albert Pujols said. ”I mean, we’ve got 12 or 13 position players that really compete every day. Our bullpen threw the ball well to keep us in the game.”

St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright, the NL pitcher of the month for June, took a 5-3 lead into the ninth before giving up a leadoff single by Pujols, who was 1 for 11 in his first series against his former team. Manager Mike Matheny then brought in Mujica, who had converted 21 of 21 save opportunities this season. But Hamilton drove the right-hander’s second pitch into the center field trees for his 11th homer, extending his hitting streak to nine games and raising his average to .226.

”Players I’ve talked to about him said he’s not afraid to throw his split five or six times in a row because that’s his go-to pitch. So he’s going to stick to what has been working for him,” Hamilton said. ”I didn’t try to do too much with it. I didn’t try to yank it or anything like that – just hit it back up the middle.”

Howie Kendrick and Trumbo followed with singles, and Mujica (0-1) retired his next two batters before Erick Aybar drove in the winning run with an opposite-field single to left. Aybar had three hits and scored a run for Los Angeles.

Mujica acknowledged that he shook off batterymate Yadier Molina on the ill-fated pitches to Hamilton and Aybar.

”I made two big mistakes. I didn’t follow Yadier on a couple of pitches, and that was the ball game,” Mujica said. ”He called for a fastball on Hamilton and I threw the changeup. On Aybar, he called for a fastball again and I decided to throw my changeup. I threw a couple good changeups and got two popups so I figured I’d go with my best pitch.”

Wainwright, the only Cardinals pitcher averaging at least seven innings per start, defended Matheny’s decision to take him out after 104 pitches. His season high is 120, on May 11 in a two-hit shutout against Colorado.

”We’ve always liked that situation. He’s the right guy in that situation,” Wainwright said of Mujica. ”He’s been great all year. That’s what happens when you let a leadoff guy on in the last inning. That’s on me, right there. I have to go out and get that guy out.”

Angels starter Joe Blanton gave up five runs, four earned, and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings. The right-hander, who signed a $15 million, two-year contract with Los Angeles over the winter, is 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA in nine starts this season at Anaheim Stadium.

Blanton averaged 13 pitches through the first three innings while retiring nine of his first 10 batters. But just three batters into the fourth, the Cardinals pulled ahead 3-2 on a single by Carlos Beltran, a walk to Matt Holliday and Allen Craig’s homer. Craig leads the majors with a .469 average with runners in scoring position.

It was the seventh straight start in which Blanton gave up a home run.

The Angels tied it in the bottom of the fourth on Trumbo’s drive to center. But the Cardinals got the run back in the fifth on Matt Carpenter’s sacrifice fly, and then made it 5-3 in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Daniel Descalso that chased Blanton, who has given up a major league-worst 135 hits.

The Angels opened the scoring in the third on a two-out, two-run single by Trout, after Wainwright gave up singles to Alberto Callaspo and Aybar, and J.B. Shuck advanced them with a sacrifice bunt.

— Associated Press —

Josh Donaldson is pushing for a spot on the American League All-Star team with his bat and glove.

Donaldson homered, reached base safely four times and made a pair of stellar defensive plays, including a tumbling catch while crashing over a roll of infield tarp in foul territory, to help preserve Oakland’s 7-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

”If someone wants to say that I’m having an All-Star year so far, that’s fine,” said Donaldson, who also doubled. ”I’ve said it a hundred times, if I just focus on helping our team win and try to do something productive for the team, the individual stuff is going to take care of itself.”

Donaldson went into the day ranked in the top five among AL third basemen in batting average, home runs and RBIs but was fifth in the most recently released All-Star voting.

That could change the more the A’s win and the more Donaldson flashes his defensive skills.

His catch on Matt Carpenter’s foul in the fourth ended a two-on, two-out threat. Donaldson later made a diving stop on Allen Craig’s grounder to end the seventh with the tying run on second.

Oakland needed it to overcome a rocky outing by starter Tommy Milone.

Milone gave up three home runs and pitched with runners in scoring position in four of the six innings he worked, but got the win after the A’s rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 5-2.

”Probably not his best command … but he fought his way through,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. ”Against a team like that, to give us six innings, you wouldn’t have forcasted that after the first inning.”

Jed Lowrie also homered for the A’s, who padded their AL-best home record by taking two of three in this interleague series. Oakland has won 16 of its last 19 games at the Coliseum.

Carlos Beltran, Craig and Carpenter homered for the Cardinals.

The slugfest in the series finale was in stark contrast to the first two games when starting pitchers Bartolo Colon of the A’s and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals put together dominant performances.

”That was kind of the game I anticipated happening but with us on the other side,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. ”We came out swinging the bats. I’ve seen them enough to know this series was going to be like. Today could have gone either way.”

Oakland had seven extra-base hits – five off St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook. Westbrook (4-3) lasted just four innings and gave up six runs and 10 hits overall.

Lowrie’s go-ahead two-run blast was the big blow, while Donaldson’s solo shot off reliever Trevor Rosenthal in the seventh capped the A’s best offensive day in two weeks.

Oakland remained a half-game behind Texas in the AL West and improved to 26-13 at home. The A’s are also 48-35, their best record after 83 games since 1992.

Milone (7-7) overcame his rocky outing to win for the first time since June 3. Oakland’s left-hander allowed seven hits over six innings with five strikeouts and two walks. The three home runs allowed by Milone also matched a season-high.

Sean Doolittle and Ryan Cook each pitched a scoreless inning of relief, and Grant Balfour worked the ninth for his 19th save.

”It makes it a lot easier when we come back and score some runs,” Milone said. ”We just kept coming back.”

St. Louis, which began the day one game behind Pittsburgh in the NL Central, took a pair of early leads but couldn’t make them hold up.

Beltran and Craig hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead. It was Beltran’s team-leading 19th homer while Craig’s blast was his third on the Cardinals current road trip.

The A’s pulled within one when Lowrie singled in Seth Smith and scored on an RBI double by Yoenis Cespedes in the bottom of the inning.

Carpenter’s solo home run in the third off Milone made it 4-2. Lowrie, Oakland’s shortstop, later let Matt Holliday’s grounder go through his legs and was slow to retrieve the ball, allowing Beltran to score from second.

Oakland scored twice in the third with the help of two errors, and then went ahead 6-5 on Lowrie’s two-run homer off Westbrook in the fourth after Chris Young’s leadoff single.

”I just didn’t have it,” Westbrook said. ”It seemed like I was fighting it all day. The ball was all over the place.”

— Associated Press —

Erik Bedard pitched six effective innings and the Houston Astros used a four-run fourth inning to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Bedard (3-3) allowed seven hits and walked one, but limited St. Louis to three runs. Three relievers then combined to pitch two hitless innings before Jose Veras worked the ninth for his 16th save.

Veras yielded a one-out single to Jon Jay and then walked Matt Adams, but pinch hitter Daniel Descalso struck out and Matt Carpenter flied out to end the game.

Allen Craig homered for the second straight night and Yadier Molina had a two-run shot for the Cardinals, who lost for the fourth time in five games. They dropped into a tie with surging Pittsburgh for the lead in the NL Central.

Lance Lynn (10-2) allowed five hits and four runs, walked four and struck out four over 7 2-3 innings for his first loss in four career starts in Houston.

Molina and Craig helped the Cardinals get off to a nice start. Molina followed Carpenter’s leadoff single with a drive to the Crawford Boxes in left field for his sixth homer. Craig had a leadoff drive in the fourth that bounced off the lights atop the wall in left field, extending the lead to 3-0.

But Houston responded in the bottom half. Jose Altuve and Jason Castro got it started with back-to-back singles for the Astros’ first hits of the game. Lynn then walked Chris Carter on four pitches to load the bases before sending a run home when he also walked Carlos Pena on four pitches.

Castro came home when J.D. Martinez grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Brett Wallace then hit a tying RBI single. After another fielder’s choice, Brandon Barnes singled in Wallace to give Houston the lead for good.

The Astros threatened again in the fifth, putting two runners on with two out, but Lynn retired Martinez to end the inning. That was the first of eight straight batters retired by Lynn

Josh Fields retired the first two St. Louis batters in the seventh before left-hander Wesley Wright came in and struck out Carpenter.

Jose Cisnero faced the heart of the Cardinals’ order in the eighth. He got Molina on a groundout before walking Carlos Beltran. He then struck out Craig and Matt Holliday to finish the inning.

— Associated Press —

St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny tinkered with his lineup on Tuesday night, moving Matt Holliday from the No. 3 spot to fifth in the order for the first time this season.

He isn’t sure how long he’ll stay with this configuration, but after the night Allen Craig had, Matheny certainly has no plans to move him out of the fourth spot.

Craig homered and tied a career-high with four hits and had three RBIs, and Carlos Beltran and David Freese both added a homer as the Cardinals got back on track by rolling to a 13-5 win over the Houston Astros.

”That’s hard to mess with when Allen has the protection that he has,” Matheny said. ”Those other guys are getting on base in front of him and he’s doing a great job of driving them in. It’s not what I want to fool around with too much.”

Craig was glad to hear that, but said he isn’t too concerned about those things.

”I definitely like hitting fourth, but we’ve got so many good hitters on this team, and I don’t really have the privilege to care about where I’m hitting,” he said.

The Cardinals managed just seven runs combined in a three-game sweep by the Texas Rangers, the first time they were swept this season. On Tuesday, they piled up the same number of runs in the fourth inning alone, powered by a three-run triple by Matt Carpenter.

But Matheny said he wasn’t bothered by the rough weekend because of the consistency his offense has shown all season.

”You’re going to have tough weekends because there are good teams out there and very good pitchers and sometimes it’s just hard to pull it off,” he said. ”Our guys went out and kind of did the same thing that they usually do.”

Jake Westbrook (4-2) didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning and yielded four hits and four runs in six innings in his third start since coming off the disabled list.

”As well as I was pitching it was a little disappointing,” Westbrook said of his difficult sixth inning. ”In my eyes I felt like I should have pitched a little bit better in that inning. But the offense was great tonight and really picked me up and picked us up as a team, so that was good to see.”

Matt Dominguez got Houston’s first hit of the game on a towering home run to left field. Brett Wallace added a two-run triple in that inning in his first game back from Triple-A.

Houston starter Lucas Harrell (5-8) entered the game with a 1.73 ERA in four starts this month, but things went wrong quickly. He allowed seven hits and seven runs with four walks in 3 1-3 innings.

”I left the ball up, and when you leave the ball up against a team that hits they’re going to hit,” Harrell said.

Craig extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single to start the second before Matt Holliday ended a 0 for 11 slump with a single. Adams grounded into a double play before Harrell walked Freese. He escaped the jam when Jon Jay grounded into a force out to end the inning.

Harrell struck out the side in the third before trouble began in the fourth.

Beltran opened the fourth with a double and scored on a single by Craig to make it 1-0. Holliday and Matt Adams walked before a one-out, bases-loaded walk by Jay made it 2-0.

Pete Kozma’s RBI single pushed the lead to 3-0. Carpenter’s three-run triple sailed just out of reach of a diving Justin Maxwell in right-center and left St. Louis up 6-0. Maxwell crashed violently into the grass on the play and was taken out of the game and replaced by J.D. Martinez. The team said Maxwell had a concussion.

A run-scoring single by Yadier Molina wrapped up the scoring for that inning and chased Harrell. He was replaced by Dallas Keuchel, who struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

Chris Carter walked to start the second inning, but Westbrook got back on track after that, retiring the next 12 batters. The Astros didn’t have another baserunner until the homer by Dominguez to start the sixth.

Barnes walked and Jose Altuve singled before the triple by Wallace scored them to make it 9-3.

Houston got within 9-4 on a sacrifice fly by Jason Castro. Carlos Pena doubled with two outs, but Westbrook limited the damage by retiring Martinez.

Beltran launched a 73 mph curveball into the Crawford Boxes in left field for a two-run home run – his 18th of the season – to make it 9-0 in the sixth inning.

Freese pushed the lead to 11-4 when he hit his fifth homer of the season off Travis Blackley in the seventh.

Craig’s two-run homer off Josh Fields made it 13-4 in the eighth.

Houston added a run on an RBI single by Ronny Cedeno in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

After rookie Martin Perez silenced the St. Louis Cardinals, his manager was non-stop with praise.

”I’ve always seen the stuff, but tonight was the first time I think he showed he’s a big-league pitcher,” Ron Washington said after the Texas Rangers’ 4-2 victory Saturday night. ”It can be a huge step, he just beat a pretty good team.

”He should be proud. I know we are.”

Nelson Cruz got the decisive hit for the second straight game with a two-run homer in the third inning for the Rangers, who have won four of five after losing six in a row.

Fellow rookie Shelby Miller (8-5) allowed two homers for the second time in three starts and didn’t make it out of the sixth against the team the Cardinals beat in the 2011 World Series, Texas was making its first regular-season visit to Busch Stadium.

”I’m not saying that if I make a better pitch I get them out, but both pitches were right down the middle, perfect pitches to hit,” Miller said. ”The first one was supposed to be in and the other one was supposed to be away, and both kind of ended up right down the middle of the plate.”

A.J. Pierzynski also hit a two-run homer for Texas, which goes for a three-game sweep on Sunday night with Nick Tepesch (3-6, 4.84) facing Adam Wainwright (10-4, 2.37). The first two games have been sellouts and the finale was supposed to be a matchup of aces, but the Rangers are saving Yu Darvish for the Yankees Tuesday in New York.

They didn’t want Perez to come up in New York, either.

Perez (1-1) was recalled from Triple-A Round Rock where he was 5-1 with a 1.75 ERA. The lefty allowed a run in each of the first two innings but gave up just two hits the next five innings and retired the last 10.

Though perhaps the Rangers’ top prospect, Perez entered 1-5 with a 5.40 ERA with seven starts.

”I just had to do the same job I’m doing at Triple-A,” Perez said. ”The first two innings I missed a couple pitches but after that I just said ‘OK, this is my game.”’

Joe Nathan wrapped up a game that had all of the scoring in the first three innings with a perfect ninth for his 24th save in 25 chances. The start of the game was delayed by rain 66 minutes. It was the second such delay this week.

Earlier Saturday, Washington said he felt good about Cruz’s tiebreaking two-run single in the ninth on Friday because the Rangers need wins, and not because Cruz needed redemption. The Rangers were an out away from taking the ’11 Series when Cruz misplayed David Freese’s game-tying triple in Game 6.

Cruz snapped a 2-2 third-inning tie with a two-run homer, his 19th of the season to the opposite field in right. He also singled and has four hits and five RBIs the first two games of the series.

Miller departed after bouncing a throw to first on a sacrifice bunt by Perez that loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth. Fellow rookie Seth Maness got Ian Kinsler on a groundout to end the sixth.

Miller is 3-2 this month, the other loss coming when he gave up two homers and four runs on the road against the Mets. Manager Mike Matheny couldn’t find fault with pitches that the right-hander left up.

”He lives there, that’s where his success is, so that’s one of those two-edged swords,” Matheny said. ”Most of the guys in the league have a tough time catching up to him. You don’t see many guys that see him the first time able to square balls up the first pitch they see on the top of the zone.”

The Cardinals have opened the scoring both games and took the lead on Allen Craig’s RBI single in the first with Carlos Beltran just beating the relay to the plate from center fielder Leonys Martin.

The Rangers answered when Adrian Beltre doubled to open the second and Pierzynski lined the next pitch into the right field seats for his seventh homer. The Cardinals tied it in the bottom half when Freese tripled off the top of the wall in right-center and scored on Shane Robinson’s sacrifice fly.

— Associated Press —

Three runs down with none out in the first, Derek Holland and the Texas Rangers were in trouble. The lefty participated in the comeback by keeping the bat on his shoulder, and he found his stride on the mound, too.

Holland coaxed a two-out walk off Tyler Lyons to fuel a four-run second-inning rally that put the Rangers back in business, and the Rangers went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Friday night.

”Some of the guys were giving me a hard time with me and my swing,” said Holland, who’s 0 for 5 at the plate this season but with a pair of walks. ”The main thing is to go out there and try to see as many pitches as you possibly can, and try to get his pitch count up.

”Lucky for me, I got the walk,” he added.

Nelson Cruz snapped a ninth-inning tie with a two-run single through a drawn-in infield in the opener of a series between 2011 World Series opponents.

Neal Cotts (4-1) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth when Jon Jay tapped out on a full-count pitch and Joe Nathan finished for his 23rd save in 24 chances. All of Cotts’ decisions have come this month.

Left fielder David Murphy robbed Carlos Beltran of an extra-base hit and saved a run with a running catch at the wall in left-center to end it.

Allen Craig had two hits and two RBIs, plus he made a handful of outstanding plays at first base for the Cardinals. Joe Kelly worked five scoreless innings after Lyons was yanked in the second.

The opener of the three-game series drew a sellout of 45,228 to Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals closed out the ’11 Series with wild wins in Games 6 and 7.

”For me it’s just a game on our schedule and you have to play it,” Rangers leadoff man Ian Kinsler said. ”Obviously, there are memories of the stadium and memories of the field and stuff like that, but this is a different year and we’re trying to win a series and continue to play good baseball.”

This game had some of the drama that made that series one of the best in recent memory.

Rookie Trevor Rosenthal (1-1) struck out two in a perfect eighth but gave up two hits, botched a sacrifice attempt for an error and threw a wild pitch to the backstop in the ninth. Rosenthal’s throw to second baseman Matt Carpenter covering first was off-line and off-speed and Andrus knocked the ball free.

”It looked like his glove, jersey and everything hit at the same time,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Both managers insisted the matchup between 2011 World Series opponents was just another series, with Matheny noting both rosters have changed a lot and the Rangers’ Ron Washington saying he’s been over the gut-wrenching feeling left by those two final losses in St. Louis since the start of spring training in 2012.

Holland struck out the side in the seventh and retired the final 12 in order. Holland allowed three doubles and a walk to the first four hitters in the Cardinals’ three-run first but gave up few hard-hit balls thereafter.

Andrus was in a 2-for-25 slump before his two-run single in the second chased Lyons, who lasted 1 2-3 innings. A.J. Pierzynski and Mitch Moreland opened the innings with doubles for a run and Nelson Cruz greeted Kelly with an RBI single to cap a four-run rally that put the Rangers up 4-3.

After winning his first two career starts for a rotation hit hard by injuries, Lyons is 0-3 with an 8.19 ERA in four outings.

”It just kind of snowballed on him a little bit,” Matheny said. ”He had trouble getting it in the zone and when he brought it back in he was already in favorable counts for the hitters.”

Kelly was 5-7 in 16 starts last year after replacing injured Jaime Garcia and made one spot start earlier this month, and could replace Lyons.

A move might happen quicker to help the bullpen.

”If it arises, I mean, I’ll take the ball and I’ll be ready to give this team the best chance to win,” Kelly said.

Matheny said a move might happen quicker to help the bullpen.

The Cardinals jumped on Holland in the first with three doubles and a walk the first four at-bats with Beltran driving in a run and Craig getting two RBIs. Pete Kozma doubled to open the second, advanced on the first of Kelly’s two sacrifice bunts, and scored on a passed ball.

— Associated Press —

Lance Lynn earned his 10th victory to tie for the NL lead, Matt Holliday homered and drove in two runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-1 on Thursday night.

Yadier Molina batted cleanup for the first time this season and walked twice with a double, raising his NL-leading average to .366. Allen Craig, the regular cleanup man, made his first pinch-hit appearance of the season and had a two-run double off Hector Rondon during a four-run sixth.

The Cardinals took three of four from the Cubs and lead the majors with a 47-26 record heading into a weekend interleague series against the Texas Rangers, the team they beat in the 2011 World Series.

Welington Castillo homered leading off the third for the Cubs, who left the bases loaded in the fifth when slumping Starlin Castro fouled out. They’re 20-18 against NL teams outside their division, but just 9-24 against the Central.

Lynn (10-1) allowed a run on three hits in six innings with six strikeouts and has reached double digits in wins before the All-Star break both of his years in the rotation, going 11-4 last year and making the All-Star team. He joined teammate Adam Wainwright and Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann for the league lead.

Lynn retired the side in order four times and is 5-1 against the Cubs, the lone loss coming last month at Wrigley Field. He’s won nine in a row at Busch Stadium.

Molina was 8 for 13 in the series with a homer and is 11 for 21 overall this season against Chicago with a homer and five RBIs.

Castro was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and is in an 11-for-85 slump that has dropped his average to .232.

Castillo’s second homer of the season and first since April 8 briefly tied it at 1 after David Freese’s run-scoring groundout off Scott Feldman (6-6) had given the Cardinals the lead. Matt Carpenter scored from second on Holliday’s infield hit, a bouncer between third and short that Castro got his glove on but could not contain.

Feldman retired one of the four hitters he faced in the sixth, the lone out coming on center fielder Ryan Sweeney’s leaping catch at the wall to rob Matt Adams of a homer two at-bats after Holliday hit his 11th also to straightaway center.

The Cardinals won consecutive games for the first time since June 6-7 after alternating wins and losses for nine games.

— Associated Press —

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina leads the National League in batting and has put himself in the early discussion for MVP honors, at least in the eyes of St. Louis right-hander Jake Westbrook.

Molina hit his fifth home run and Westbrook pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Molina said the blast was somewhat of a surprise to him.

”Sometimes you get lucky,” he said. ”That was lucky.”

Westbrook (3-2) worked around trouble almost the entire night in his second start since coming off the disabled list with a sore elbow. He gave up no earned runs, striking out two and walking three.

Edward Mujica pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 21st save in 21 attempts.

Westbrook said if he voted for MVP, his battery mate would get the nod.

”With the way he’s been hitting, but more importantly the way he’s handled us as a staff and the way we’ve been pitching,” Westbrook said. ”He, in my mind, is the reason for that.”

Molina is hitting .365 and is pulling away from the field. Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki, who is on the disabled list, is second at .347. Molina is just outside of the top 10 in RBIs (41). He’s also guides a Cardinals pitching staff that has the major leagues’ second-best ERA (3.28).

Edwin Jackson (3-9) was pulled after he hit Jon Jay following Molina’s blast to left field. He pitched 5 1-3 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits. He struck out one and walked two.

He was going for his third consecutive victory and was pleased with his performance. He wasn’t even unhappy with the ball that Molina homered on.

”I thought it was a pretty good pitch, but either he was looking for it or he guessed right or it was right in his zone,” Jackson said. ”Either way, he hit it for a home run. But I threw my pitch with conviction and it was the pitch I wanted to throw. Sometimes it happens in a game.”

Allen Craig reached in the fifth after second baseman’s Darwin Barney’s throw on the back end of a double-play attempt went to the Cardinals dugout. Molina drove a 1-2 pitch just over the outfield wall to improve to 9 for 15 with three homers against Jackson.

Jay went to third on a hit-and-run with Daniel Descalso singling to right and scored on a hit from Pete Kozma to give St. Louis a 4-1 lead.

Westbrook retired the Cubs in order in the first and seventh innings, allowing at least one runner to reach in the five innings between. He faced the minimum in three of those five innings. Two runners were erased on inning-ending double plays and Luis Valbuena was caught stealing on a pitch out for the first out of the third.

”He was good,” Molina said of Westbrook. ”That sinker was moving a lot.”

Westbrook lasted just five innings in his return Friday at Miami. He gave up five runs (three earned) on eight hits in a loss.

”I felt good,” Westbrook said. ”I was throwing a really good sinker, tonight. I was locating it a lot better than the last start.”

Anthony Rizzo opened the second with a single and went to third when second baseman Matt Carpenter’s throw to start a potential double play sailed over the Kozma’s head and into leftfield. Rizzo tagged up on a sacrifice fly from Barney and scored after knocking the ball out of Molina’s glove.

Carpenter singled to start the first and scored on Craig’s hit to center.

— Associated Press —

Jeff Samardzija hopes his traditional June swoon is a thing of the past.

Samardzija picked up first career win as a starter in his most unlucky month, tossing 8 1-3 strong innings to help the Chicago Cubs to a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Samardzija (4-7) came into the contest winless in eight June starts – he was 2-8 with a 7.14 ERA, with both victories coming in relief.

”I really want to knock this June bugaboo,” he said. ”I’ve been working really hard and I like where I am today.”

Samardzija gave up two runs on seven hits and left with a 4-1 lead. He struck out six and walked one for his first win since May 27.

Ryan Sweeney and Cody Ransom hit back-to-back homers in a four-run first as Chicago broke a five-game losing streak in St. Louis.

The Cubs started fast against Adam Wainwright (10-4) and won for the fourth time in six games.

Carlos Beltran hit his team-high 17th homer for the Cardinals, who lost for the third time in five games but still lead the majors with a 45-26 record.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum was especially impressed with his starter.

”He was as good as he’s been all year against the best offense in baseball,” he said. ”If you can do that to them, you’ve had one heck of a game.”

Said Sweeney: ”Watching from center field, he was unbelievable.”

”He was keeping hitters off balance and still throwing 96 to 97 (mph) in the ninth inning,” he said.

Kevin Gregg picked up his 10th save in as many opportunities. He got David Freese to ground into a strange game-ending double play. Pinch-runner Shane Robinson was called out for interference while trying to break up the play at second.

Robinson was ruled to have gone out of the way to hinder the relay throw from shortstop Starlin Castro.

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny agreed with the call by umpire crew chief Fieldin Culbreth.

”He got it right,” Matheny said. ”It’s just frustrating to see the game end like that.”

The Cardinals cut the lead to 4-2 on an RBI single by Yadier Molina with one out in the ninth. Matt Holliday and Allen Craig singled with one out to chase Samardzija.

Gregg, after giving up the hit to Molina, induced Freese to hit a hot shot right at second baseman Darwin Barney, who started the double play.

Freese hit into three double plays and also struck out.

The Cubs’ first-inning runs all came after two outs. Nate Schierholtz and Alfonso Soriano hit consecutive singles before Sweeney unloaded with his second homer of the season to make it 3-0. Ransom followed with his eighth homer.

”We just got on them early,” Sweeney said. ”Thankful enough that we did. If you don’t get to a guy like that, he’ll bear down and then you can’t score any runs.”

The Cubs tied a season high with four runs in the first – they also did it in the first inning of a 10-7 loss to San Francisco on April 14.

Wainwright, who was trying to become the majors’ first 11-game winner, gave up back-to-back homers for the third time in his career. He allowed four earned runs on seven hits over seven innings.

Wainwright had won his previous five starts, but has not beaten the Cubs since Sept. 24, 2010. He had given up a total of four first-inning runs over his first 14 starts this season.

”It was unforgivable,” Wainwright said. ”I put my team in a really tough spot.”

Samardzija never let a runner past second base in the first five innings and was helped out by three double plays.

”What else can you ask for?” Samardzija said. ”Great defense. And the icing on the cake were those four runs in the first.”

Beltran homered off the right-field foul pole with two outs in the sixth. Molina went 3 for 3 and leads the NL with a .367 average.

— Associated Press —

Known for his defense, Yadier Molina is putting together an impressive offensive season.

Molina had two more hits Monday night against the Chicago Cubs, including a two-run double, to help the Cardinals to a 5-2 win in the opener of a four-game series. Those two hits raised his average to a National League best .355.

Although Molina has topped the .300 mark the past two seasons, hitting .305 in 2011 and a career-best .315 last season, he seems to be at a different level in 2013, though he appears afraid to he might jinx himself.

”Next question,” Molina said when asked about leading the league in hitting. ”I’m glad we got the win for Shelby (Miller). At the same time, he pitched pretty good.”

After waiting out a rain delay of 1 hour, 59 minutes to start the game, Miller (8-4) pitched five scoreless innings to get the win for the Cardinals. He left after five innings with cramps in his right leg.

”He did a great job,” said St. Louis manager Mike Matheny. ”Had a little warning there that his calf had tightened up (and) we didn’t know exactly what we were dealing with. We found out it’s just a cramp. He should be fine.”

Miller allowed just two hits and struck out five in the shortest start of his career. His previous shortest stint was 5 1-3 innings at Los Angeles on May 26.

”I guess I was a little dehydrated this week,” Miller said. ”But if feels OK. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow.”

Kevin Siegrist and Seth Manness followed Miller and combined for two shutout innings before Trevor Rosenthal allowed a run in the eighth on a broken bat single by Nate Schierholtz. Edward Mujica gave up a homer to Darwin Barney with two outs in the ninth, but still earned his 20th save in 20 opportunities.

Shane Robinson and Allen Craig added sacrifice flies for the Cardinals, who moved back to a major league best 20 games over .500 (45-25).

Chicago fell to 8-22 against the National League Central, the lowest winning percentage by any team in its own division (.266). The Cubs are 5-23 when they score three runs or less, including Travis Wood’s last three starts. Wood (5-6) was again a hard-luck loser, as he gave up four runs on seven hits. He has dropped three straight games despite having a 2.70 ERA in those contests.

It’s tough for the team,” Wood said. ”We’re scratching and clawing trying to get everything we can right now and trying to put together quality ball games.

”We’re falling a little short right now, but it’s a good group of guys. We’re going to eventually get it together and string together some wins.”

Molina was happy the Cardinals were able to break through against Wood.

”He beat us in Chicago,” Molina said. ”Tonight, we executed pretty good.

The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Carlos Beltran and Matt Holliday started the inning with singles, and Beltran then went to third on Craig’s long fly out to right. Molina then drove both Beltran and Holiday home with a double to the gap in right center.

St. Louis began the seventh the same way, with Molina and David Freese getting singles. Molina would score on a throwing error by first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Freese came home on Robinson’s sacrifice fly.

Craig’s sacrifice fly in the eighth gave the Cardinals a 5-1 lead.

— Associated Press —