The Cardinals exploded by scoring all of their runs in the first six innings and pounding out a season high 17 hits, highlighted by Lance Berkman’s grand slam and total of five RBIs on the night as the Cardinals thrashed the Arizona Diamondbacks 15-5 on Wednesday night.

Berkman’s grand slam came with two outs in the second off Arizona starter Ian Kennedy who got charged for nine runs in three innings. Aaron Heilman was then tagged for six more runs in just 1.1 innings worked thanks to a three run homer by Skip Schumaker.

Berkman has hit four homers in this series and went 6 for 13 with 10 RBIs in this three game set. Albert Pujols picked up two more hits to raise his average to .229. He came into the series hitting just .143 and Pujols laughed when fans and media expressed concern over his slow start.

Jake Westbrook gave up all five runs, but just two of those were earned as he went 5.1 innings and had plenty of run support to pick up an easy first win of the season.