Lance Berkman drove in his 10th run of the series with a grand slam and Skip Schumaker joined him with a home run to help the St. Louis Cardinals score a season-high 15 in dispatching the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday night. Neither Jake Westbrook nor Ian Kennedy was sharp, but the Cardinals put up eight runs in the first two innings to make sure it didn't matter. Russell Branyan homered for the Diamondbacks, who dropped two out of three from the Cardinals this week.
Six Cardinals picked up at least two hits on the night, including Daniel Descalso, who replaced Albert Pujols in the seventh inning. Berkman's grand slam was his fourth of the season, and gave him 11 RBI on the year. Pujols went 2-3 with a double and a walk, improving his batting average to .229 following his early-season slump. Even Gerald Laird got in on the action, going 3-5 in his first start at catcher.
The Cardinals' most impressive game came from reliever Eduardo Sanchez. Called up from AAA after both Bryan Augenstein and Brian Tallet were disabled in Tuesday's loss, Sanchez struck out five batters in two innings to close the game. He featured a cutting fastball that sat at 94 and a slurve with 15-20 miles per hour of separation from that.
For more on Wednesday's game, and the Cardinals' upcoming series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, visit Viva El Birdos.