Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Jeff Suppan allowed three unearned runs in a 6-3 win on a 47-degree night.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Juan Encarnacion homered, tripled and doubled, driving in four runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Tuesday night.
Jeff Suppan, a 16-game winner last year, won for the first time in four starts this season. Suppan (1-2) allowed three unearned runs and four hits in seven innings on a cold 47-degree night.
Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances, completing a four-hitter.
Average goes up
Hector Luna added three hits, raising his average to .438 in limited duty, as the Cardinals won for the fifth time in six games.
Pittsburgh has lost six in a row, getting outscored 30-9, and is an NL-worst 5-17. The Pirates also lost six in a row at the season's start and have dropped 11 of 12 on the road.
Victor Santos (1-4) gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings.
Encarnacion had 16 homers and 76 RBIs last year for Florida, then signed a $15 million, three-year contract with St. Louis. He entered Tuesday with one RBI -- on a groundout -- one extra-base hit and a .203 average in 69 at-bats, then hit an RBI double in a two-run first.
With Pittsburgh leading 3-2 in the third, he followed Jim Edmonds' two-out walk with a homer to left for a 4-3 lead.
Encarnacion added a run-scoring triple in the fifth, when right fielder Jeromy Burnitz missed on an attempted sliding catch and the ball rolled to the wall. Going for the cycle, Encarnacion bunted foul trying for a hit in the seventh, then grounded sharply into a double play against Roberto Hernandez.
Hears boos
Encarnacion also made a sprawling, diving grab of Ronny Paulino's liner to right, ending the fourth. He's heard some boos in the early going but this time earned an ovation as he left the field.
In his previous outing, Suppan gave up eight runs and lasted only two innings. In this one, all of the Pirates' runs came after a catcher's interference call on Gary Bennett in the third, and Suppan retired 13 of his last 14 batters. He is 7-2 against the Pirates, a team he played for in 2003.
Scott Spiezio, starting at third in place of ailing Scott Rolen, homered off Hernandez in the seventh. Rolen was diagnosed with bronchitis and was not at the stadium.
Pittsburgh got its runs on Jack Wilson's RBI single and Craig Wilson's two-run single.
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