St. Louis Cardinals Matt Carpenter watches his two run home run leave the park in the fifth inning. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Cardinals rookie Matt Carpenter homered, tripled and drove in five runs, leading the club to a 10-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. The 26-year-old Carpenter is batting .409 with 10 RBIs in 22 at-bats.
He singled his first two trips with an RBI, belted a two-run shot to straightaway center off Lendy Castillo in the fifth for his first career homer and added a two-run triple off Rodrigo Lopez in the seventh.
Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (2-0) allowed one earned run in seven strong innings, following up on his debut in which he gave up an unearned run in seven innings at Cincinnati. He dropped 20 pounds in the offseason after a disappointing 2011 in which he went 12-9 but with a 4.66 ERA.
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