St. Louis, MO – Shane Victorino and rookie Freddy Galvis both knocked in three runs to propel the Philadelphia Phillies to a 10-9 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series at Busch Stadium.
Ty Wigginton homered, singled twice, drove in two runs and scored three times for the Phillies, who pounded out a season-high 18 hits in their first meeting with the Cardinals since being eliminated by them in last year's NLDS.
Yadier Molina clubbed a two-run homer as part of a 4-for-5 performance, and Matt Holliday and David Freese added solo blasts for St. Louis, which was coming off a three-game home sweep of San Diego.
The Phillies staked starter Joe Blanton to a 6-0 lead after two innings, but the right-hander failed to protect the sizeable advantage as Molina's blast to center field tied the game at 7-7 with one out in the bottom of the fifth.
Galvis and pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot put Philadelphia up 9-7 with consecutive two-out RBI singles off Fernando Salas (0-3) in the sixth.
Freese homered to left-center field off Chad Qualls with two gone in the seventh, but Wigginton restored a two-run lead for the Phillies with a drive over the center field wall in the next inning.
St. Louis closed to within 10-9 in the eighth on Skip Schumaker's sacrifice fly, but Jonathan Papelbon pitched around a Molina single in the ninth to notch his 13th save of the season. Raul Valdes (1-0) recorded the final two outs in the fifth to earn the win.
The Phillies put up a four-spot in the first inning against starter Jake Westbrook.
They loaded the bases after Jimmy Rollins, back from paternity leave, grounded out to begin the game. Placido Polanco doubled, Hunter Pence walked and Carlos Ruiz was hit by a pitch before Victorino plated the game's first run by grounding into a fielder's choice.
Wigginton then scored Pence on a ground ball up the middle and John Mayberry walked in front of Galvis' two-run single to center.
Victorino recorded a two-out, two-run double in the second but St. Louis began its comeback with a four-run third.
Holliday put the Cardinals on the board with a run-scoring ground out, while Carlos Beltran and Molina slapped RBI singles around an RBI double by Freese.
After Polanco contributed an RBI single in the top of the fifth, Blanton gave up homers to Holliday and Molina in the bottom of the inning.
Game Notes
The Phillies were 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position...St. Louis finished with 15 hits, 10 of which were given up by Blanton in his 4 1/3 innings of work...Westbrook allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings...The Cardinals announced first baseman Lance Berkman's surgery on his injured right knee, originally scheduled for Thursday morning, has been postponed until Friday due to a conflict in his surgeon's schedule in Houston. An MRI earlier in the week revealed a torn meniscus, and Friday's procedure will determine if he will require surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament. If his ACL has been torn or compromised, Berkman will miss the remainder of this season.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.