Cardinals fight back only to lose 10-9 to Phillies

ST. LOUIS – After coming back from a six-run deficit to tie the game, the Cardinals let it slip away.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny wanted to make sure his players remembered to focus on all the good work they did just to get back into the game before losing 10-9 to the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.

"I just went in there, went around the room and told them I was real happy with the way, especially our offense and defense went about that game," Matheny said. "There's a whole lot of positives. Being down that much early and having a chance to win the game, there was a lot of things they should be proud of.

St. Louis got down 6-0 after two innings but tied it at 7 in the sixth only to fall short and lose 10-9 to the Phillies on Thursday night.

"I'm not going to beat myself up and I want to make sure they're not beating themselves up," Matheny said. "That was a hard-fought game."

Shane Victorino and Freddy Galvis each drove in three runs, including Galvis' go-ahead single in the sixth inning for the Phillies.

Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz and Ty Wigginton added three hits apiece for Philadelphia, which had a season-high 18.

Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his 13th straight save.

With two outs and two on against Fernando Salas (0-3), Galvis drove in Victorino with a single and pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot singled to score Wigginton and make it 9-7.

St. Louis narrowed the margin to 9-8 with a two-out homer by David Freese. His 10th homer of the season went 463 feet and is the second longest homer in the stadium's seven-year history.

"I'm just trying to do what I've done since I've played baseball and that's hit," Freese said. "I'm just trying to keep it simple."

Wigginton homered in the eighth to add an insurance run that proved valuable when Skip Schumaker hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning.

A three-run fifth by St. Louis chased Philadelphia starter Joe Blanton and tied it at 7. Matt Holliday led off the fifth with his 10th homer. Raul Valdes (1-0) got two outs to end the inning.

Carlos Beltran, who had three hits, doubled but was thrown out at third on a ball hit in the hole by Freese. Two pitches later, Yadier Molina, who had four hits, crushed the ball out to deep center.

The Phillies led 6-0 after two innings against St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook.

"I was not very good, not very good at all," Westbrook said. "I was very erratic early. Even when I was in the zone, it was one of those type things where they were able to get base hits. It snowballed early on me.

"I didn't do a good job of giving us a chance there. I put us in the hole that was tough to come back from."

St. Louis fought back with a four-run third inning against Joe Blanton. Westbrook led off with a single and scored on a groundout. Beltran hit an RBI single and Freese then doubled to drive in Beltran and later scored on a single by Molina.

It was Westbrook's shortest outing of the season. He allowed eight hits and three walks.

NOTES: St. Louis' Allen Craig (left hamstring) took batting practice and fielded grounders for the first time since he went on the disabled list May 17. ... Cardinals 1B Lance Berkman's surgery on his injured right knee, originally scheduled for Thursday, was postponed until Friday due to a conflict in his surgeon's schedule in Houston.