Cards’ ‘O’ awakens in win over Pirates

St. Louis put together one of its best offensive games in recent weeks, winning 6-0.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kyle Lohse is one of the NL’s biggest surprise stories of the season, so his latest effective start wasn’t exactly an unexpected development.

This was: The St. Louis Cardinals put together one of their best offensive games in weeks, and it all began with a big inning that already looked to be over.

Lohse limited the Pirates to six hits over seven shutout innings and Rick Ankiel and Ryan Ludwick homered, helping St. Louis break out of a scoring slump with a 6-0 victory over Pittsburgh Friday night.

Lohse (11-2) won his eighth in a row by limiting the Pirates to one extra-base hit. He hasn’t lost in 12 starts since May 9, giving up two runs or fewer in all but two of his last 10 starts.

“This was the one where I don’t know if I’m the proudest, but I’m the happiest about the way I went out and pitched because I didn’t really feel like I had the best stuff,” Lohse said. “When you bear down and make pitches like I was able to, it feels really good to get the win.”

Ankiel’s two-run drive followed Yadier Molina’s two-run double and finished off a decisive four-run third inning, with all the scoring occurring after Pirates starter Zach Duke (4-6) got two quick outs and was ahead of Albert Pujols 1-2 in the count.

Pujols and Troy Glaus singled ahead of Molina’s double down the left-field line, and Ankiel hit a 1-0 pitch by Duke into the seats in right-center for his 20th homer. Ludwick made it 5-0 an inning later with his 19th.

“Two outs and two strikes and they scored four runs, that was a big blow to us,” Pirates manager John Russell. “If you get through that inning, you don’t know what will happen. Four runs, with the way Lohse was pitching, it was tough to come back.”

Ankiel went 3-for-3 with a walk and drove in three runs. Glaus also had three of the Cardinals’ 13 hits as all of their runs scored with two outs.

No doubt the offense was welcomed by manager Tony La Russa, whose team scored only five runs while losing two of three in Philadelphia earlier in the week. The Cardinals were limited to two runs or fewer in six of their previous seven — getting a combined 13 runs — and had scored as many as six runs only once in 10 games.

“We really haven’t been swinging very well, but as long as you give yourself a chance, all of a sudden that can turn,” La Russa said. “It did today.”