The St. Louis Cardinals dropped a 5-3 decision on Sunday to the Florida Marlins. Ryan Dempster improved to 13-9 on the season with seven innings of solid work. He allowed three runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out five. Antonio Alfonseca pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 22nd save. Dustin Hermanson (9-9) takes the loss, allowing four runs in six innings of work. Fernando Vina and Edgar Renteria each had three hits in defeat for St. Louis. The Cardinals remain seven games behind first place Chicago because the Cubs lost in ten innings to Los Angeles 3-2.
