Phils Fall in St. Louis

The surging St. Louis Cardinals received a little help in their latest win.

Placido Polanco lofted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Cardinals extended their winning streak to nine games with a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

With the game going to the bottom of the ninth, Philadelphia manager Larry Bowa called on Turk Wendell (4-5), who has been ineffective since he was acquired from the New York Mets before the July 31 trade deadline.

Edgar Renteria immediately reached on an infield hit before Mike Matheny struck out trying to bunt. Bobby Bonilla followed with a single and a bobble by center fielder Doug Glanville allowed Renteria to race to third.

An intentional walk to Fernando Vina loaded the bases for Polanco, who lifted a 0-2 pitch into center field that scored Renteria without a play.

`He made two good pitches. That`s when I said I`ve got to wait a little longer,` Polanco said. `He threw me another slider and he left it a little over the plate and I just put it in Play.`

`I thought it was a pretty good pitch,` Wendell said. `It might`ve been up just a little bit. It was a slider. I`m sure he was probably looking for a slider in that situation and he did his job.`

Bowa defended his decision to go with the ineffective Wendell.

`He`s going to pitch in the eighth and ninth inning unless it`s a save situation. Then we go to (Jose) Mesa,` he said.

The Cardinals` winning streak is one shy of a season high and has vaulted them back into contention in the National League Central. They pulled within 2 1/2 games of first-place Chicago and Houston.

Since coming over from the Mets, Wendell is 0-2 and has surrendered nine runs in eight innings.

Jimmy Rollins had four hits and Pat Burrell belted a two-run homer for Philadelphia, which has lost two in a row following a five-game winning streak and fell into a first-place tie with Atlanta in the NL East.

Dave Veres (3-2) retired one batter in the ninth for the win.

It did not look like the Cardinals would need any dramatics in the ninth after getting another solid outing from Darryl Kile.

Kile, who entered with a 14-3 lifetime record against the Phillies, limited them to one run and six hits over seven innings. The veteran righthander departed with a 3-1 lead.

The Cardinls` most consistent starter, Kile has allowed just six runs over 49 2/3 innings in his last six starts. He lost a chance to go 4-0 in those starts when manager Tony La Russa went to his bullpen in the eighth.

Luther Hackman started the inning and allowed a one-out single to Bobby Abreu. Burrell followed by sending a 2-1 pitch over the left-center field wall for his 18th homer.

`I was ahead in the count, basically just looking for a fastball, and I got a good one to hit,` Burrell said. `It was at a good time for us. Unfortunately, we couldn`t hang on there in the end.`

Philadelphia had a chance to take the lead in the ninth, but Veres retired Scott Rolen on a weak pop-up to shortstop to end the inning, stranding runners at first and third.

Rolen, who had four homers in his previous five games, went 0-for-5 and left six runners on.

The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the third. Todd Pratt singled with one out, was sacrificed to second and came home on a single by Rollins.

Phillies starter Robert Person, a St. Louis native, quickly gave back the lead in the bottom of the inning.

Fernando Vina led off with a single and went to third one out later on Kerry Robinson`s bunt hit up the first-base line. A groundout by Albert Pujols plat ed Vina and Jim Edmonds followed with a double for a 2-1 lead.

A sacrifice fly by Pujols in the fifth extended the Cardinals` lead to 3-1. Pujols was 0-for-2, ending his 17-game hitting streak.

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Author: Choice Content