Shelby Miller gave himself a boost with his bat.

The rookie pitcher hit his first career home run and pitched six sharp innings, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-8 Thursday night.

”I haven’t hit a home run since high school, at least in a game,” said Miller, whose 1.91 earned run average continues to lead the National League. ”It was neat. It will be something I remember for sure. Sometimes you get lucky.”

Miller (7-3) allowed two runs and six hits. He struck out nine and walked none.

Arizona scored three times in the ninth, and Edward Mujica got the last two outs for his 18th save in 18 chances.

Matt Adams and Daniel Descalso homered in an eight-run fourth inning off Ian Kennedy. Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter also connected for the Cardinals.

Kennedy (3-4) was tagged for 10 runs and 13 hits in four innings.

Kennedy nearly escaped the fourth with giving up just one run, but his throw off on Yadier Molina’s comebacker pulled shortstop Didi Gregorius wide of second base. What could have been an inning-ending double play instead led to Adams’ three-run homer and Descalso’s two-run shot.

”I think we’ve made that play and we expect to make that play,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. ”It didn’t happen today and it cost us.”

Kennedy endured the entire inning and threw 50 pitches. He had 99 total, only 60 for strikes.

He said typically he’ll ask his middle infielders which one will cover the bag in a situation like that before he makes a pitch. He failed to do so and when he saw second baseman Cliff Pennington break toward the bag his instinct was to throw it to him until Gregorius took charge.

By then, Kennedy double clutched and threw wide.

”That whole sequence. It was perfect,” he said. ”I was trying to get a double play in that situation. It would have been a lot different if I was able to turn. That’s just my fault. I should have known who covered the bag just before that pitch.”

The Cardinals hit five homers in a game for the first time since last July 27. The previous time they did it at home was June 24, 2005, at the former Busch Stadium.

David Freese extended his career-best hitting streak to 16 games for St. Louis. Descalso scored twice in the big fourth and finished with three hits, including a double.

The first five batters in the St. Louis starting lineup all got two hits, as did Miller.

Manager Mike Matheny liked what he saw from Miller at the plate. He hopes that the pitcher doesn’t let it change his approach.

””You’ll take any runs you can get, but we hope he doesn’t go up there trying to do that every time,” Matheny said.

The Cardinals greeted reliever Matt Reynolds with back-to-back home runs from Miller and Carpenter to open the fifth and stretch their lead to 12-2.

Arizona scored twice in the first on an RBI groundout by Paul Goldschmidt and a single by Miguel Montero.

”I have a tendency of letting up in the first inning,” Miller said. ”I have got to figure out a way to be as aggressive like I am in the middle of the game and toward the end, in the first couple of innings. I just wasn’t doing it early on.”

Gerardo Parra had three hits, including an RBI single in a three-run seventh for Arizona. The Diamondbacks scored three more in the ninth when rookie Keith Butler gave up a hit to Pennington and a double to Wil Nieves before walking three consecutive batters.

— Associated Press —

Paul Goldschmidt hit his second grand slam in five days, Wade Miley bounced back from his two worst outings of the season and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-3 on Wednesday night.

Arizona has won four of five. St. Louis, with the best record in the majors, dropped back-to-back games for the first time since April 28-29.

Goldschmidt became the first Arizona player with two slams on the same road trip. He hit one in a 12-4 win at the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

Goldschmidt also hit a go-ahead single in the 14th inning to beat St. Louis on Tuesday night. He has a team-leading 14 homers and leads the NL with 53 RBIs, including 12 in his last five games.

Miley (4-5) gave up three runs on 11 hits over 6 2-3 innings. He had given up seven earned runs in each of his previous two starts, but rallied to strike out three and walk one.

Martin Prado had two doubles and scored twice for the Diamondbacks.

Joe Kelly (0-3), making his first start of the season, gave up one earned run in 5 2-3 innings. He made 16 successive appearances of out of the bullpen this season, but was forced into a spot start due to a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.

Matt Carpenter had four hits for the Cardinals and pushed his career-best hitting streak to 14 games.

The Diamondbacks erupted for five runs in the seventh off just-called up righty Maikel Cleto to take control 7-1. Wil Nieves started the uprising with an RBI single before Goldschmidt hit his 421-foot slam.

Gerardo Parra keyed a three-run eighth with a two-run single.

David Freese extended his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games with a single in the St. Louis sixth. It is the longest current run in the majors.

— Associated Press —

Lance Lynn pitched seven solid innings and the St. Louis Cardinals got home runs from Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran in a 7-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.

Lynn allowed one run and five hits, struck out six and walked one. He improved to 8-1 for the second consecutive season while becoming the third National League pitcher to reach eight wins, trailing Patrick Corbin’s league-leading nine for Arizona.

Molina hit a leadoff drive in the fifth on the same day he received a one-game suspension from Major League Baseball for making contact with umpire Mike Everitt during an argument on Sunday. The All-Star catcher appealed the decision.

Molina’s fourth homer lifted St. Louis to a 5-0 lead. He finished with two hits and two RBIs.

Arizona starter Trevor Cahill was charged with five runs and nine hits in five innings. He walked three and had no strikeouts for the first time this season.

Cahill (3-6) had allowed four earned runs or less in 29 consecutive starts.

The Diamondbacks got their only run in the sixth. Gerardo Parra had a leadoff double, moved up on Martin Prado’s flyout and came home on Paul Goldschmidt’s groundout.

Beltran and Matt Carpenter had three hits apiece for the Cardinals. Beltran’s 13th homer drove in Carpenter and made it 7-1 in the sixth. He also drove in Carpenter in the fourth with a single.

The Cardinals went 5 for 8 with runners in scoring position against the usually stout Cahill. Entering the game, batters had just a .111 average against him in that situation.

David Freese singled in Molina in the third, making it 3-0 and extending his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. Molina singled in Matt Holliday, before taking second on the throw home and third on a wild pitch.

— Associated Press —

Chad Gaudin found himself in an unfamiliar position Sunday afternoon.

The San Francisco right-hander took the mound to start a game for the first time in over three years and tossed six strong innings to lead the Giants to a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, ending the Giants’ seven-game road skid.

Brandon Belt hit a two-run pinch-hit double to break a 2-2 tie in the seventh. Buster Posey, who entered the game in a 2 for 20 skid, went 4 for 4 with two doubles to pace an 11-hit attack.

Gaudin (1-1), in his first start since Sept. 28, 2009 as a member of the New York Yankees, allowed four hits and two runs, both coming on David Freese’s homer in the fourth. He struck out five and did not walk a batter. Gaudin, who set the side down in order in four of six innings, is temporarily replacing Ryan Vogelsong in the rotation. Vogelsong broke several bones in his right hand May 20.

”It was nice,” Gaudin said of the starting assignment, ”I made a couple of minor league starts, but it was refreshing to get back out there and do that.”

San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said Gaudin’s performance came at a perfect time for his beleaguered staff.

”He gave us a huge shot in the arm,” he said. ”He went out there and threw quality strikes and actually went a little further than we ever thought.”

Bochy said before the game that he was hoping to get four, maybe five innings from Gaudin.

Instead, Gaudin rolled through six on 79 pitches, 55 strikes. In his first start after 117 successive relief appearances, Gaudin earned his first win since Oct. 2, 2012 when he was a reliever with the Miami Marlins.

”I wanted to go out there and give the team a chance to win and also give them some innings,” Gaudin said. ”I thought I was throwing aggressively and pitching with what I had.”

The Giants offense, which had scored just seven runs in its previous six road games, gave Gaudin enough offensive support.

Belt slammed the first pitch from reliever Randy Choate into the gap in left-center to bring in Brandon Crawford and Gregor Blanco for a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning. Crawford began the rally with a single off St. Louis rookie Tyler Lyons (2-1).

Closer Sergio Romo recorded four outs for his 15th save in 17 opportunities. He got Freese to ground out with Allen Craig on first to end the game.

San Francisco scored single runs in the second and third off Lyons. Posey and Hunter Pence hit back-to-back doubles in the third.

”I hit a couple balls hard that found a couple of holes,” Posey said. ”So now, it’s just a matter of keeping on.”

Posey raised his average 15 points to .308 with the four-hit effort.

Freese tied the game with his third homer of the season. He has hit safely in a career-tying 12 successive games.

”I’m seeing the baseball and trying to consistently hit the ball hard somewhere,” he said. ”It’s all about the approach at the plate.”

Lyons allowed four runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings in his third start. He allowed one run over seven innings in winning his two previous starts.

”I was inconsistent from the beginning,” Lyons said. ”I was fighting myself, just trying my best to eat up a few innings.”

Despite the victory, the Giants have dropped six of their last eight..

”A much-needed win after yesterday,” Bochy said.

St. Louis beat the Giants 8-0 and 7-1 in a day-night doubleheader on Saturday.

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny and catcher Yadier Molina were ejected in the third inning by first base umpire Clint Fagan after Molina was called out on a close play at first. Molina slammed his helmet to the ground after the call and was immediately thrown out for the third time in his career. Matheny came out to protect Molina and was ejected for the third time as a manager.

”I know I was out,” Molina said. ”I was just upset with myself.”

— Associated Press —

Adam Wainwright refused to relax against a makeshift San Francisco Giants squad.

Pitching against the Giants missing stars Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, Wainwright struck out 10 in his 14th complete game and third this season, and the St. Louis Cardinals completed a day-night doubleheader sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 7-1 win Saturday night.

”You look at a lineup and you don’t see some of their boppers in there,” Wainwright said. ”Those are key parts of their lineup. You can very easily go out there and take it for granted and give up a couple of runs because you’re not ready to pitch.

”My thought today was to just respect all those guys over there and make sure I was ready to pitch,” he said.

Rookie Shelby Miller was also ready. He pitched six-hit ball for seven innings and backup catcher Tony Cruz hit two doubles and drove in a pair of runs for St. Louis in an 8-0 win in the opener.

Wainwright (8-3) allowed eight hits and one run without walking a batter to close out the first doubleheader between the Giants and Cardinals in St. Louis since July 16, 1978. Wainwright threw 106 pitches and 73 strikes.

”I didn’t feel like I had the best jump on my heater I’ve ever had,” Wainwright said. ”But I was locating it and my other stuff felt great. You can go a tick or two down in velocity and locate and still get the job done.”

Carlos Beltran and Ty Wigginton each had two hits and drove in two runs for the Cardinals. Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso and Shayne Robinson had the other RBIs.

Dt. Louis manager Mike Matheny was happy to see his reserves contribute.

”All the way around, the guys made good plays,” Matheny said. ”Whenever you see your bench guys, you know they’re doing the right work. So, very impressive.”

The Giants had little to celebrate, as they managed just one run in 18 innings.

”It was a tough day, no getting around it,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy. ”We scored one run. They played great. We didn’t pitch great. We didn’t hit the ball great. That’s a good team over there.”

Wainwright also helped with his bat when the Cardinals broke through against San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner (4-4) with three runs in the third.

Pete Kozma started the inning with a walk, and he advanced to third when Wainwright followed with a double to left-center. Kozma scored on a fielder’s choice to first by Jay, and one out later, Beltran drove Wainwright and Jay home with a single to center.

Bumgarner lasted six innings and allowed five runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

In the opener, Miller (6-3) scattered six hits, stranding seven runners. His ERA dropped to 1.82. Miller struck out seven with one walk.

Matt Cain (4-3) allowed seven runs in six innings, falling to 0-3 at Busch Stadium with an 8.87 ERA in four starts.

Cain struggled in the third, when he threw 40 pitches. In the other five innings he pitched, Cain set the Cardinals down in order. He threw 101 pitches, striking out nine with no walks.

The Cardinals had seven runs on nine hits – seven singles and two doubles – in the third when St. Louis sent 12 men to the plate.

Cruz, starting at catcher instead of Yadier Molina, smacked a two-run double. Descalso hit a double and a single while Kozma had two singles in the outburst.

— Associated Press —

The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they will promote rookie right-handed pitcher Michael Wacha from Memphis (AAA) to start Thursday night’s (May 30) game at Busch Stadium against the Kansas City Royals.  The team will announce a corresponding player move prior to Wacha’s start.

Wacha, 21, was the Cardinals #1 draft selection (19th player overall) last June out of Texas A & M University.  The 6-6, 210-pound Texarkana, Texas native is currently 4-0 with a Pacific Coast League-leading 2.05 ERA in nine starts for the Memphis Redbirds.  Wacha has allowed just 35 hits in his 52.0 innings pitched this season for a .187 opponent’s batting average.

Wacha appeared at three levels (Gulf Coast League, Florida State League and Texas League) last season following his signing and posted a 0.86 ERA in 11 appearances (two starts) while striking out 40 batters in 21.0 innings pitched with only four walks.  He also appeared in two games during the Texas League playoffs for Springfield (AA).

Wacha will become the eighth rookie pitcher to appear on the Cardinals roster this season and the 10th pitcher age 25 or younger to do so.  The Cardinals have received a Major League-leading 12 wins from rookie pitchers this season.

— Cardinals Media Relations —

Jeff Bianchi drove in two runs with a 10th-inning single up the middle, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Saturday night.

Joe Kelly (0-2) allowed runs for the first time in five appearances and took the loss. He allowed two hits and a walk in one inning for the Cardinals, who fell to 0-3 in extra-inning games.

John Axford (1-3) gave up one hit and two walks in 1 1-3 innings to earn the win. Axford struck out two, including pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso with the bases loaded to end a ninth-inning threat.

Jim Henderson worked a perfect inning for his eighth save in eight chances.

Bianchi made his second start since coming off the disabled list on May 2 after he sidelined by bursitis in his left hip. The winning hit gave him his first two RBIs this season.

Jean Segura, Ryan Braun, Aramis Ramirez all had three hits for the Brewers. Segura and Braun both had two RBIs.

The Cardinals used four consecutive singles with two outs in the sixth inning to tie it 4-4. Matt Carpenter’s hit chased Milwaukee starter Marco Estrada and drove in Pete Kozma who started the rally. Jon Jay’s single brought in Ty Wigginton.

Braun gave Milwaukee a 4-2 lead in the fifth with his second single of the game.

The Brewers broke through in the third with a two-out rally. Segura’s fourth triple of the season drove in Bianchi and Norichika Aoki to make it 2-2. Braun gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead with his first single.

St. Louis scored twice in the second but left the bases loaded. Kozma drove in Allen Craig, who walked to start the inning. Carpenter’s single gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

Estrada gave up four runs, seven hits and four walks over 5 2-3 innings. He struck out two.

Lance Lynn lasted just five innings. He gave up four earned runs on eight hits and two walks as his ERA rose to 3.27 from 2.88.

He struck out three, his fewest since his first start of the season when he was lifted after four innings at Arizona on April 3.

— Associated Press —