PHOENIX _ Adam Wainwright took his pitching show of guile, grit and periodic gusto onto the road Wednesday night.
The St. Louis Cardinals righthander had been a hit at home this year with a 5-1 record and 2.64 earned run average. Away from home? Road kill at 2-4 and 9.48.
But Wainwright almost always has had something for the Arizona Diamondbacks and this occasion was no different. Beating the D-backs for the eighth time in 12 career decisions, Wainwright channeled his 93-94 mph fastball from glory years as he held the hard-hitting, surprising National League Western Division contenders to two runs over 6 1/3 innings, fanning eight, as he and the Cardinals barely held on for a 4-3 victory, saved by a revamped bullpen, which still had ninth-inning issues.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had hinted before the game about a possible realignment and the first sign of that came in the seventh inning Wednesday night when he summoned lefthander Tyler Lyons, normally his long reliever, to a first-and-third, one-out situation left him by Wainwright.
Called on to face two left-handed batters, Lyons induced Daniel Descalso to hit into a forceout, scoring a run, and he retired David Peralta on a popup, keeping the Cardinals ahead by a run. Lefthander Brett Cecil, who has had 10 straight scoreless innings, rolled through the eighth, striking out Paul Goldschmidt and Jake Lamb and fielding Chris Owings' bunt and then throwing low to first, where Matt Carpenter made a nifty pickup.
Trevor Rosenthal, restored to the ninth-inning role, gained his fourth save although he allowed a hit, walked two batters and threw two wild pitches as the Diamondbacks scored a run in the ninth. But Rosenthal got Peralta on a broken-bat grounder to end the game.
Struggling closer Seung Hwan Oh warmed up in the seventh inning and ninth but did not appear.
Wainwright, the Cardinals' top winner at 8-5, was brilliant, walking just one before giving up back-to-back singles to Rey Fuentes and Chris Herrmann to start the seventh. He got pinch hitter Ketel Marte on a short fly to right field before yielding to Lyons.
