Another strong pitching performance by St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright kept the Kansas City Royals at bay while the offense continued to chip in a run or two per inning, giving the Cardinals an 8-2 victory at Kaufmann Stadium on Saturday.
Wainwright (6-7) went seven innings in the start, only allowing two runs in the sixth inning. The ace struck out four and walked one in his strong performance. The game started off well for Kansas City's starter Luis Mendoza. The righty allowed only one run in the first four innings but then collapsed at the start of the fifth and allowed three more, eventually being pulled.
That four run lead ended up being enough for Wainwright and the Cards, as that lead was never relinquished.
After getting runs from Alex Gordon and Yuniesky Betancourt in the bottom of the sixth, the Royals pitching didn't help the comeback attempt by giving St. Louis the two runs right back in the seventh. After adding another in the eighth, the Cardinals took the 8-2 win.
St. Louis' offense was paced by Allen Craig, who led the team with three RBI. Matt Holliday also raked with four hits and two RBI.
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis. For more in-depth coverage of this series, visit St. Louis Cardinals blog Viva El Birdos. For more news and notes from around MLB, check out Baseball Nation.