PHILADELPHIA _ The Cardinals sported a new look to the lineup order, one prompted by the reek of Wednesday's loss, and some new faces around the field. But when it came to salvaging a series at Citizens Bank Park, they went decidedly traditional.
They got a strong start and muscled a few homers over the wall and then skedaddled for St. Louis and a weekend date with the rival Cubs.
Matt Wieters hit one of the Cardinals' four home runs and boosted Dakota Hudson & Co. to a 5-3 victory against the Phillies. Wieters had two hits and scored two runs, and then he piloted the bullpen through some turbulence in the later innings. The Phillies got the tying run on base in the eighth inning, and reliever John Gant had to negotiate around that mess for three outs. A strikeout of Scott Kingery for the second out proved to be the escape hatch Gant and Wieters needed to avoid the blown save.
The win gave the Cardinals (27-28 overall, 8-18 this month) one last chance to win consecutive games in the month of May. They have played the first 30 days of the month without winning back-to-back games. They host the Cubs on May 31.
Hudson pitched six sterling innings and held the Phillies to one run on four hits. Bryce Harper had two of those hits _ both doubles. He did not score either time he reached base against Hudson. The Cardinals' young right-hander leaned heavy on the pitch that got him to the majors: sinker after sinker after sinker after sinker. That kept the Phillies grounded, and it wasn't until the fourth inning that a Cardinals' outfielder was involved in an out. In the third, a groundball single up the middle was quickly erased by a double play.
Hudson faced the minimum his first time through the order.
The Cardinals offense was a bunch of solo acts collaborating on an overall album. Marcell Ozuna started the scoring with a solo homer to lead off the second inning. Wieters followed with a solo homer. In the seventh, a two-run homer from Jedd Gyorko gave the Cardinals some insurance. Two batters later Matt Carpenter hit a pinch-hit homer to widen the lead.
The Cardinals allowed four homers Wednesday in their 11-4 loss, and three of those homers came in one inning against Michael Wacha.
A day later, the homers kept the Cardinals ahead despite the lack of sustained office. Entering the ninth inning, the Cardinals had a two-run lead despite only one plate appearance with a runner in scoring position. They did not have a hit with a runner in scoring position through nine innings.
Harper got his third hit of the game in the eighth when he pulled an RBI single to right field against Andrew Miller. That brought the tying run to the plate against Gant. Rhys Hoskins, who the Cardinals had avoided twice before in the game with calculated intentional walks, golfed a single to left field against Gant to bring in a second run in the inning and reach base as the potential tying run.
Hoskins stood at first as Gant retired the next three batters. He got a popup in foul territory to end the inning.
Jordan Hicks pitched the ninth for his 11th save of the season.
A day after missing a fly ball in right field for an error, Dexter Fowler climbed the wall and reached into the seats to pull a ball back for the final out of the game.
