St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Chris Carpenter delivers a pitch to the Philadelphia Phillies in the seventh inning at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on June 23, 2011. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
The St. Louis Cardinals scored six runs in the eighth inning to puncuate a great hitting night and give Chris Carpenter his first win since May 10th as the Redbirds beat Philadelphia 12-2.
Carpenter (2-7) allowed one run and five hits to end a string of seven successive starts without a win. Carpenter struck out seven and walked one.
Philadelphia starter Roy Oswalt (4-6) left after two innings due to tightness in his lower back. He gave up four runs and five hits in his shortest start since a two-inning outing in a 9-7 loss to Atlanta on September 10, 2009.
Jay hit his fifth homer of the season, a 422-foot shot to right off Oswalt to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Berkman capped off a six-run outburst in the eighth with a three-run shot, his 18th of the season.
Berkman and Matt Holliday who were a combined 2 for 14 in the first two games without Albert Pujols, were a combined 4 for 9 with five RBIs.