Cards Salvage Game

The third time worked out fine for the St. Louis Cardinals. After losing two straight one-run games to Philadelphia, the Cardinals used a two-run seventh inning to beat the Phillies 3-1 Sunday.

"We played the same game three times," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "This was an important game for us, if you can say that in May. This one just went our way."

Fernando Vina hit a two-run homer and Dustin Hermanson gave up five hits as the Cardinals salvaged a win in the three-game series, and ended the Phillies` three-game winning streak.

Vina`s first home run of the season came off Amaury Telemaco (4-1) in the seventh and broke a 1-1 tie. Eli Marrero led off with a single, Hermanson sacrificed and Vina homered. Vina finished with three hits.

"(That pitch) was right down the middle," Telemaco said of the home run ball. "That lost the game right there. There are no excuses."

"I wasn`t going up there trying to hit a home run," Vina said. "Even when I swung, I wasn`t looking for a homer."

Hermanson (5-1) gave up only a solo home run to Travis Lee in the second.

Dave Veres pitched 1 1-3 innings for his fifth save.

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"My job was to just hold them until we could score some runs," said Hermanson, who has won his last four decisions. "We didn`t want anyone sweeping us."

The Cardinals had several good chances in the game prior to their two-run seventh. They had the bases loaded in the fourth and runners on first and third in the fifth, but were unable to score.

St. Louis got its first run on a homer by Ray Lankford in the second, his 11th of the season. Lankford was 2-for-3 with a double.

The Phillies loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, but Hermanson got Doug Glanville to pop up to catcher Marrero to end the threat.

Glanville had his 15-game hitting streak broken after an 0-for-4 performance. He also hit into a double play for the first time this season.

Notes:
Albert Pujols played first base for St. Louis, his third different starting position in the series. He also started at left field and third base. ... St. Louis OF Jim Edmonds, who struck out twice, left the game in the fifth inning with sore right knee and is day-to-day. His replacement, Bobby Bonilla, also struck out twice. ... The announced attendance was 31,391, the largest crowd since the home opener. The attendance was helped, in part, to the giveaway of Pat Burrell Bobbing Head Dolls. Burrell went 2-for-4. ...Phillies rookie C Johnny Estrada threw out his first runner when he gunned down Vina trying to steal in the ninth.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Author: 6 ABC - Action News