Giants Struggle In 8th Inning, Lose To Cardinals
ST. LOUIS (CBS / AP) -- Skip Schumaker's infield RBI hit capped a three-run eighth inning, taking tough-luck Chris Carpenter off the hook in the St. Louis Cardinals' 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
Albert Pujols and Allen Craig hit RBI doubles in the eighth before Schumaker, who had been in a 2-for-19 slump, got the go-ahead single against Javier Lopez (2-1) on a perfectly placed grounder between first and second. Schumaker's headfirst dive into the bag beat the throw from second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who went far to his left to glove the ball.
Ryan Franklin (1-3) struck out the side in the eighth in the first victory for the ex-closer since July 30. Fernando Salas finished for his 10th save in 10 chances.
Ryan Vogelsong pitched five effective innings for the Giants, yielding a run and six hits. It was the fifth consecutive solid outing for the right-hander, who replaced injured Barry Zito in the rotation in late April.
Vogelsong had been 1-4 with an 8.49 ERA in 14 career games against St. Louis.
Carpenter had a season-high eight strikeouts but otherwise labored, working with runners in scoring position all but one of his five innings and leaving down 2-1 after 103 pitches. The ace right-hander remained at 1-5 but avoided losing four straight decisions for the first time since 2002 with Toronto.
Cody Ross had two hits and an RBI and Freddy Sanchez also drove in a run for the Giants.
Cardinals leadoff hitter Ryan Theriot singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in the National League.
Jon Jay and Pujols opened the eighth with doubles off Sergio Romo. With one out, Craig doubled off Lopez to tie it and Schumaker's hit came with two outs. Pujols has only six doubles after entering the year averaging 42 per season.
Lopez has allowed five runs in his last six outings covering three innings. He permitted one run in his first 19 appearances and had been 4-0 in 51 games since joining the Giants last August in a trade with Pittsburgh.
Pujols made his second start this month at third base after zero starts at the position from 2003-2010. He had only one chance on a groundout by Miguel Tejada in the third.
Outfielder Matt Holliday was scratched for the Cardinals, still nursing a left quadriceps injury that hindered his running in his first game back on Monday. He pinch-hit in the fifth and took a called third strike.
NOTES: Giants 1B Aubrey Huff, who has a team-leading 23 RBIs but only three the last 16 games, did not start and manager Bruce Bochy said he might sit Wednesday, too. Huff had a broken-bat popup to first as a pinch hitter in the sixth.
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