ST. LOUIS_Michael Wacha pitched six strong innings for his fifth win of the season and the St. Louis Cardinals pounded out a season-high 15 hits to blow past the Philadelphia Phillies 12-4 Friday night in front of a damp crowd of 42,050 at Busch Stadium.
The game was delayed by weather for 1 hour and 35 minutes at the start and the rain returned and stayed throughout much of the night. There was another delay in the top of the eighth when home plate umpire David Rackley was unable to continue and replaced by second base umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.
The four-game series is tied at 1-1 after the Phillies won 6-2 on Thursday. It resumes Saturday with the Cardinals' John Gant (1-1, 4.15 ERA) taking on Philadelphia's Zach Eflin (1-0, 0.71).
Jose Martinez led the way for the Cardinals' attack, going four for five with a two-run homer and five RBIs. Catcher Francisco Pena went three for four with a homer, scored three runs and drove in another.
The Cardinals took the lead in the third, playing a little small ball to get things started. Pena led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on a Wacha sacrifice. Tommy Pham followed with a double into the gap in right-center, allowing Pena to score the game's first run.
Pham took third on Matt Carpenter's groundout to first and Martinez followed with a run-scoring bloop single to right to make it 2-0. After an throwing error by Phillies third baseman Scott Kingery, new Cardinals shortstop Jedd Gyorko ripped a base hit past a diving attempt by shortstop Pedro Florimon, allowing Martinez and Marcell Ozuna to score as the home team's lead went to 4-0.
The Cardinals added to the lead in the fourth, taking advantage of more Philadelphia miscues. Pena doubled into the left-field corner to start the inning and again advanced on a Wacha sacrifice bunt. Wacha reached safely when second baseman Cesar Hernandez dropped the throw. Pena then scored on a wild pitch as the Cardinals went up 5-0.
The Phillies got a pair of runs back in the fifth. After two Wacha strikeouts, Hernandez beat out a slow roller to Gyorko at short and Rhys Hoskins walked. Odubel Herrera then singled up the middle to drive in two to make it 5-2.
The hit extended Herrera's streak of getting on base in consecutive games to 44.
Pena got the run back for the Cardinals in the bottom of the fifth, connecting for a two-out solo homer to left to make it 6-2. It was his first homer and RBI as a Redbird.
In the sixth, Pham led off with a hit, took second on a wild pickoff throw, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a Carpenter single. Martinez followed with a two-run homer to center, pushing the Redbirds' lead to 9-2.
Hernandez homered with two outs in the seventh to make it 9-3.
Kolten Wong got the run back with a leadoff homer in bottom of the seventh for a 10-3 score. Later in the inning, Martinez doubled down the right field line to drive in the Cardinals' final two runs.
Wacha (5-1) allowed five hits and two runs. He struck out eight and walked a pair. Philadelphia ace Jake Arrieta (3-2) took the loss, leaving after just three innings.
With one out in the seventh, the Cardinals' Tyler O'Neill singled for his first big-league hit.
For the Phillies, who made the game's only three errors, Hernandez had two hits and a solo homer while Herrera had two RBIs.
