Adam Wainwright’s first two RBIs of the season helped knock out Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in the sixth inning in a game that began in 103-degree heat as the St. Louis Cardinals ended Los Angeles’ five-game winning streak with an 8-2 victory on Tuesday night.

Wainwright (8-10) allowed two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings.

He was a career .223 hitter entering the year with five homers and 23 RBIs but was batting .079 (3-for-38) with three singles and 17 strikeouts this season.

Wainwright doubled to left-center with two outs in the fifth for St. Louis’ first run, then scored the tying run on Rafael Furcal’s single. After Daniel Descalso was intentionally walked to load the bases in the sixth, Wainwright walked on five pitches to give the Cardinals a two-run lead in a six-run sixth that put them up 8-2.

The Cardinals have won four of five and ended the Dodgers’ eight-game winning streak, which had tied the franchise’s best since moving to Los Angeles.

Kershaw (7-6) gave up eight runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings, the second-most runs ever allowed by the 2011 NL Cy Young winner. Kershaw, who entered with a 2.74 ERA that ranked among the NL leaders, gave up a career-worst nine runs in 4 2-3 innings on April 26, 2009 at Colorado.

Kershaw sailed through the first four innings in 51 pitches, then needed 53 against 14 batters to get his last five outs.

Kershaw allowed two runs in 14 innings the two starts before Tuesday and threw a shutout against the Cardinals in Los Angeles in May. The Dodgers gave him a vote of confidence after Wainwright’s walk, leaving him in, but Kershaw lasted just one more hitter before departing after Furcal’s two-run infield hit.

Wainwright (8-10) allowed two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings, in addition to providing two of the biggest at-bats.

Descalso scored from second on Furcal’s infield hit, fielded up the middle by shortstop Luis Cruz, and Allen Craig added a two-run double off Josh Lindblom.

Lance Berkman was taken out for a pinch-runner not long after getting hit by a pitch on the right knee in the third inning by a breaking ball. Berkman went to first base after visiting with a trainer, but jogged to second on a single by Descalso and was removed after a chat with third base coach Jose Oquendo.

Berkman batted seventh for the first time since 2010 and for just the 18th time in his career, bumped down in the order because David Freese entered 10-for-18 during a six-game streak combined with the fact he’s just 4-for-22 with 22 RBIs since coming off the 15-day disabled list to start the second half without a rehab stint following right knee surgery in late May.

The Dodgers had scored only two runs in 28 2-3 innings against Wainwright in St. Louis before getting two in the fourth. Four straight batters reached safely with one out, and Juan Rivera and Cruz had an RBI apiece.

Wainwright is 3-1 with a 1.09 ERA at home against the Dodgers.

— Associated Press —

Chad Billingsley returned from the disabled list with a strong outing that ended a five-start losing streak and Luis Cruz hit a three-run homer as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 Monday night in 101-degree heat for their fifth straight victory.

Cruz, recalled July 2 to replaced injured shortstop Dee Gordon, has two career homers and 12 RBIs. Eight of his 14 hits are for extra bases. His three-run shot in the second barely cleared the left-field wall – the ball conked left fielder Matt Holliday on the rebound – to give the Dodgers the early jump in their eighth straight win over St. Louis dating to April 17, 2011.

Kenley Jansen struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 19th save in 24 chances. The Dodgers also won eight in a row against St. Louis from 1975-76, their best streak in the series since moving to Los Angeles.

Carlos Beltran homered for the second straight game with a two-run shot in the eighth for the Cardinals, hitting his 22nd of the year off Ronald Belisario. But St. Louis was 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, failing to build on a three-game sweep of the Cubs in which it outscored Chicago 23-1.

Mark Ellis added a two-run double in the seventh off Victor Marte, the third reliever the Cardinals used in the inning in an effort to keep it close. Tony Gwynn Jr. contributed a pinch-hit single and scored, making him 8 for 16 with five RBIs in that role.

Rookie starter Joe Kelly (1-3) allowed two earned runs on four hits in six innings, and had a tougher day from a physical standpoint. He contributed to Ellis’ double-play ball the second at-bat of the game by deflecting a high chopper with his pitching hand, prompting a visit from team trainers and a brief delay to make sure he could still pitch.

Kelly got a second visit from the trainer after beating out an infield hit in the fifth, then stumbling over the bag and sprawling to the ground. Earlier in the at-bat, Kelly barely missed a homer on a ball that replays indicated was less than a foot outside the foul pole in left.

Billingsley (5-9) allowed a run and four hits in six innings to win for the first time since June 10 at Seattle and end a skid that matched his career worst. In the five starts he made prior to going on the DL, the right-hander had a 6.21 ERA while allowing 41 hits in 29 innings.

The Dodgers trailed for the first time in four games during a 10-game trip after Jon Jay doubled for his fifth consecutive hit with one out in the first and scored on Lance Berkman’s two-out single. Jay also singled to start the eighth and scored on Beltran’s homer.

— Associated Press —

For the third straight game, a St. Louis Cardinals starter thrived with get-me-by stuff. There was more than enough offense again, too.

Lance Lynn won his 12th game with six mostly spotless innings, and Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran homered on consecutive pitches to put the finishing touches on a 7-0 victory Sunday that completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs.

The weekend was near perfect for the World Series champions, who were 1-5 and totaled 15 runs in their first trip after the All-Star break.

”We’re in a good rhythm now,” Lynn said. ”We just need to stay there.”

Jon Jay and Tony Cruz hit consecutive two-run doubles off Travis Wood (4-5) in the first for St. Louis, which outscored the Cubs 23-1 and outhit them 38-16 for their sweep over Chicago since June 3-5, 2011 in St. Louis. It’s just their second series sweep overall at home, where they’re 26-20.

The Cardinals have had strong pitching most of the year, and rookie manager Mike Matheny has been waiting for a spotty lineup to produce consistently. St. Louis leads the National League with a .276 average and 464 runs.

”You see guys having big numbers and our record really wasn’t indicative of that,” Matheny said. ”It’s just a matter of kind of putting it together and those hits falling in timely spots.

”That was probably one of the more frustrating things with the trip we just had. Hopefully we can ride this out for a while.”

Lynn (12-4) has allowed just one run in 19 innings his last three starts. Like Kyle Lohse, who allowed a run in seven innings Friday, and Jake Westbrook, who put up seven scoreless innings Saturday, the right-hander had to work for his outs.

”It was one of those days that command-wise I wasn’t where I needed to be early in the count,” Lynn said. ”But I was able to make pitches to get out of situations. You’ve got to do that sometimes.”

Fernando Salas and Marc Rzepczynski finished a combined five-hitter as the Cardinals earned consecutive shutouts for the first time since Oct. 1-2, 2010, against the Rockies.

The Cubs’ 14-5 record entering the series was the best in the majors over that span. Aside from pitching woes with Ryan Dempster’s 33-inning scoreless streak ending and Matt Garza lasting just three innings, the offense ended the game with 25 consecutive scoreless innings and was 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position in the series, including seven chances Sunday.

”It’s very tough,” said cleanup man Alfonso Soriano, who was 1 for 11 with five strikeouts in the series. ”I think you have to give a lot of credit to St. Louis, they pitched very well and have a very good team, a very good offense. I think we forget this weekend.”

Attendance of 42,411 just missed a third straight sellout, with some fans perhaps scared off by forecasts of triple-digit temperatures. It was 94 degrees at game time.

Holliday also doubled in the first, giving St. Louis a two-game total of 12 one day after tying the decades-old major league record with seven. The Cardinals also tied the franchise record with a 12-run seventh against four Cubs relievers in that game Saturday.

Jay added three singles for his first career four-hit game, with everything to the opposite field including a dribbler down the third-base line that he legged out in the seventh, plus a nice running catch at the warning track in center field to deny pinch hitter Joe Mather’s bid for extra bases in the seventh.

Jay entered the series finale in a 2-for-20 slump and did not start the series opener Friday.

Lynn pushed aside workload concerns in his first season in the rotation. In his previous three starts, he gave up 17 runs in 15 1/3 innings while steadfastly insisting that the problems were solely pitch location at key spots.

Lynn’s lone problem, inattentiveness to baserunners, didn’t hurt him. David DeJesus, who’s just 3 for 8 on steals, and Bryan LaHair, 2 for 3, stole second standing up to start the first two innings, but stayed there.

”After they told me what I was doing, they didn’t steal again,” Lynn said. ”You give up two steals with no throw with a good catcher back there, you know you screwed up. So you fix it.”

Wood almost got out of the first without damage when Allen Craig stumbled rounding third on Holliday’s one-out double and had to retreat. Jay bailed out Craig with an opposite-field flare to left that dropped just inside the line.

”I’m not sure what happened,” Wood said. ”Their series, I guess. They put the ball in play, got the hits when they needed them.

”It just wasn’t our series at all.”

The Cubs paid homage to Hall of Famer Ron Santo before taking the field in the bottom of the first, jumping over the third-base foul line and clicking their heels.

”Everybody did it and I think everybody is happy for the team and for the Ron Santo family,” Soriano said.

— Associated Press —

The St. Louis Cardinals totaled 15 runs in their six-game trip to open the second half. They threatened that total in a single inning against the Chicago Cubs.

Jake Westbrook worked seven innings of three-hit ball and the Cardinals finally backed him – and then some – by tying a 76-year-old major league record with seven doubles in seventh inning of a 12-0 victory on Saturday night.

”I knew my spot was coming up hitting so I knew I was probably done,” Westbrook said. ”I just wanted to hopefully get some runs there, and we did. It was a fun inning.”

Rafael Furcal’s go-ahead single in the seventh turned out to be a mere appetizer as the Cardinals also matched an 86-year-old franchise record for runs in an inning. St. Louis totaled 10 hits with multiple hits by three players including pinch-hitter Allen Craig, who doubled twice with an RBI.

”It was crazy. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that in the big leagues,” Craig said. ”I came into the game in a big spot and I was glad I could make something happen, and the rest of the guys took it from there.”

The Cardinals managed five hits the first six innings before jumping on Justin Germano (0-1) and three other relievers. They tied the major record for doubles in an inning by the Boston Bees at St. Louis in the first inning of Game 1 of a doubleheader on Aug. 25, 1936.

They tied the franchise record for runs in an inning set Sept. 16, 1926, against the Phillies, in the third inning of the opener of a doubleheader in Philadelphia.

”We’ve had some against us that felt like 12,” manager Mike Matheny said. ”You look at this offense and they can come in bundles.

”It’s nice to see the guys, too, just keep putting good at-bats together no matter how many runs we’ve had or how many hits they’ve had already.”

The Cardinals totaled nine doubles for the first time in franchise history since setting a modern major league record with 13 doubles on July 12, 1931, against the Cubs.

Cubs starter Matt Garza was taken out after three scoreless innings with cramping in his right triceps, an injury that wasn’t obvious and prompted speculation that he had been traded. The Cubs added a bit of intrigue, waiting until the bottom of the sixth to announce the injury and the fact X-rays – as a precaution for possible elbow issues – were negative.

”The trade thing, I’m not so concerned about that,” Garza said. ”I’d rather go out there and throw eight or nine (innings) than come in here and say, ”I can’t throw the ball.”’

Germano got unlimited warmups in the fourth, an indication he was entering because of an injury or ejection, although the rule book also allows for an unspecified sudden emergency. Germano allowed a run in three-plus innings before the roof caved in on the Cubs, who allowed 12 runs in an inning for the first time since July 30, 2010, at Colorado.

James Russell gave up a career-high six runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning. Manuel Corpas gave up four runs without getting an out, surrendering three doubles and a walk.

”Russell’s our setup guy,” manager Dale Sveum said. ”He’s got a long four months basically without a hiccup like that, and those things will happen.

”Unfortunately, it was a nothing-nothing game.”

Previously, the Cubs hadn’t allowed more than six runs in a single inning. The Cardinals topped their previous season best of eight runs April 27 against the Brewers.

Westbrook (8-8) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first, falling behind 3-0 in the count against Geovany Soto before inducing a groundout. The sinkerballer permitted only two baserunners his last six innings, a leadoff single by David DeJesus in the third and a walk by Luis Valbuena in the fifth, and neither of them made it second.

”The first couple of innings, I was a little erratic, I might have been a little geeked up,” Westbrook said. ”After that, I felt really strong.”

— Associated Press —

Ryan Dempster’s 33-inning scoreless streak was over after four at-bats. The unanticipated early cushion was plenty for Kyle Lohse.

Lohse worked seven strong innings with less than his best and the St. Louis Cardinals’ slumbering offense opened with three quick runs against Dempster in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.

”You get behind the 8-ball really quick,” Dempster said. ”After that, I feel like I settled down and made some pitches – other than Matt Holliday hitting one off the Arch.”

Holliday added a home run estimated at 469 feet, the longest at 7-year-old Busch Stadium, in the third inning. He remembers hitting one once in batting practice at Dodger Stadium, but not in a game.

”Honestly, I didn’t want to watch it because I have a lot of respect for Ryan,” Holliday said. ”I got it good.”

Lohse (10-2) won his fourth straight decision over five starts to complement a lineup that topped three runs for the first time in 12 games. The defending World Series champions found an unlikely victim in Dempster (5-4) after totaling 15 runs and going 8 for 51 (.157) with runners scoring position on a 1-5 trip that left them five games back in the NL Central to start the day.

”We were fortunate to have him make some mistakes early, get us a lead like that,” Lohse said. ”I wasn’t counting on him giving up any more after that.

”It’s always tough when you know someone like that is on the other side.”

Dempster hadn’t allowed a run since May 30 while winning five straight starts and entered with a major league-best 1.86 ERA before running into immediate trouble, giving up four straight singles in a span of six pitches with one out. Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina each had an RBI single and Lance Berkman drove in a run with a groundout.

”I know he’s been pitching great and all that, but our plan was to try to get on base and score early,” Beltran said. ”Offensively, we have wasted a lot of opportunities, but right now we’re focusing on trying to do better.”

Dempster allowed four runs in six innings while under heavy scrutiny from several teams looking to make a deal before the trade deadline. The streak was the majors’ longest since the Phillies’ Cliff Lee had a 34-inning run last year, and it was the Cubs’ longest since Ken Holtzman also had a 33-inning streak in 1969.

”It was a lot of fun to go up there and do that,” Dempster said. ”It’s a humbling thing to try and take something that you dream about doing. But actually doing it is another thing. I’m very proud of that.”

Dempster said trade rumors have nothing to do with what happened in the first inning.

”Not at all,” he said. ”Really, it was just about a span of six pitches, and next thing you know it was 3-0.

”Sometimes they could have popped those pitches up, grounded them out or flown out. But they didn’t. They hit them really hard and got some base hits.”

Seven straight Cardinals were retired before Holliday’s one-out clout in the third that soared past Big Mac Land in left field and traveled 4 feet longer than Albert Pujols’ drive over the bleachers behind the visitor’s bullpen in left against the Rockies’ Esmil Rogers last Aug. 14.

According to ESPN Home Run Tracker, Holliday’s homer is tied for the fifth-longest in the majors this year. It was his 15th of the year and first since he connected in consecutive games July 2-3 against the Rockies.

The Cardinals worked Dempster for 32 pitches in the third, including a nine-pitch walk by David Freese to load the bases, but came up empty when Rafael Furcal broke his bat on a liner to second.

The Cubs lost for the 11th time in their last 15 games in St. Louis.

Manager Mike Matheny juggled the lineup with Skip Schumaker, who entered a .431 career hitter against Dempster, at the top and Furcal dropped to eighth for the first time this season. Schumaker took a called third strike to open the first and was 1 for 4 while Furcal had two hits.

Lohse has won 13 of his last 15 starts dating to last season, according to STATS LLC. He worked seven or more innings for the seventh time in eight starts, allowing a run on six hits with four strikeouts, all but one looking.

”It was one of those days that was kind of just a low-energy day,” Lohse said. ”I knew warming up I was going to have to grind through it and make some pitches, and that’s pretty much what I did.”

The Cubs opened the second with a walk by Bryan LaHair, a single by Steve Clevenger and a sacrifice fly by Darwin Barney. They had only two runners in scoring position against Lohse, and were a collective 2 for 15 with men on.

Tyler Greene is 0 for 13 as a pinch hitter after taking a called third strike from Scott Maine with runners on second and third to end the Cardinals’ eighth.

Jason Motte worked a perfect ninth for his 21st save in 25 chances, and first in three chances against the Cubs. He needed just six pitches.

”I got ’em,” Motte said. ”That’s all that matters.”

— Associated Press —