The St. Louis Cardinals jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first three innings against the Oakland A’s Friday night at McAfee Coliseum, but were unable to score any more runs the rest of the way as the Athletics downed the Redbirds 14-3.

Dan Johnson had three runs batted in on the night, all of them coming on a 7 th inning home run off reliever Andy Cavazos. Eric Chavez contributed with a home run of his own, a solo shot off starter and losing pitcher Braden Looper (4-4).

Looper lasted 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight runs, seven of them earned, on eight hits. Dan Haren (8-2) pitched 7 innings for the win.

The Cardinals (28-36) and the A’s (37-29) continue their weekend series Saturday night with Todd Wellemeyer (2-1) pitching for the Redbirds against Oakland’s Lenny DiNardo (2-2).