Wainwright, Pujols lead Cards over Royals

Jun 14, 2007, 3:35 GMT

Kansas City, MO - Adam Wainwright was 10 outs from a no- hitter and Albert Pujols drove in three runs, as St. Louis downed Kansas City, 7-3, in the middle game of the I-70 Series at Kauffman Stadium.

A grounder to shortstop Aaron Miles, a routine play that would have put Wainwright nine outs from following in the footsteps of Detroit's Justin Verlander on Tuesday, ended in a fielding error.

Esteban German then hooked a single to left in the bottom of the sixth. Wainwright (5-5) regrouped and picked up the victory with a career-high eight innings of one-hit shutout ball with three strikeouts and two walks.

'He did what he had to do,' opposing Royals manager Buddy Bell said of Wainwright. With him we didn't do anything.'

Odalis Perez (3-7) was roughed up to the tune of seven runs -- six earned -- on 10 hits with a pair of walks in just three-plus innings. His replacement Brandon Duckworth threw just two pitches before leaving tightness in his left rib cage.

Pujols' first RBI of the night, a single to center, drove in David Eckstein in the first inning before the onslaught of a five-run second frame.

Scott Spiezio doubled and moved to third on Gary Bennett's base hit. Miles' sacrifice fly plated Spiezio then Eckstein singled and So Taguchi walked to load the bases.

The slugging first baseman delivered with a two-run single to left, moving to second on Joey Gathright's throwing error from left. Juan Encarnacion's two- out single scored both remaining runners for a 6-0 lead.

Scott Rolen's sacrifice fly scored Taguchi with the club's seventh run in the fourth.

Alex Gordon's three-run homer to deep right-center field landed in the top section of the waterfall tank, breaking up the shutout.

Game Notes

Kansas City won the opener, 8-1, on Tuesday...Encarnacion finished 2-for-5, extending his hitting streak to 13 games...The Royals dropped to 5-3 against the National League this season...St. Louis swept a three-game set in Kauffman Stadium last season...Wainwright has allowed two runs or less in four of his last five starts...Eckstein left the game in the fourth inning with a lower back injury...Royals star slugger Mike Sweeney left with lower back tightness.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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