St. Louis, MO – Matt Adams and Matt Holliday were among five St. Louis players to homer as the Cardinals cruised to a 12-8 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the finale of a four-game set at Busch Stadium.
Adams crushed a three-run shot and Holliday and Daniel Descalso each added a two-run blast for the Cardinals, who also got homers from Matt Carpenter and Shelby Miller.
Miller (7-3) gave up two runs on six hits while striking out nine over six frames.
"Throughout our lineup there's great hitters and they really know what they are doing at the plate," said Miller. "They're one the ones winning all these games for us."
Gerardo Parra went 3-for-4 with a double and Cliff Pennington added a pair of hits and an RBI for the D'backs, who lost for just the second time in six games.
Ian Kennedy (3-4) was rocked for 10 runs on 13 hits over four innings to absorb the loss.
"This is going to make me want to work harder in my next start," said Kennedy. "I hate it when I pitch like this and I hate this feeling, I don't want this to happen again."
The Cardinals busted the game open with an eight-run fourth inning.
Jon Jay got things started with an RBI single to right field. After Carpenter singled and Holliday walked, Allen Craig cracked a a two-run single to center. Adams followed with his towering three-run blast to deep right-center, and after a David Freese walk, Descalso capped the inning with a two-run blast to make it 10-2.
The Cards tacked on two more in the fifth as Miller and Carpenter hit back- to-back homers to give St. Louis a commanding 10-run cushion.
Arizona scored three runs in both the seventh and ninth innings to make things interesting.
In the seventh, Pennington, Wil Nieves and Parra hit three-straight RBI singles.
St. Louis reliever Keith Butler issued back-to-back bases loaded walks in the ninth before he was replaced by Edward Mujica.
Mujica gave up a sacrifice fly to Willie Bloomquist before striking out Josh Wilson to end the game.
The D'backs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Parra scored on a Paul Goldschmidt ground out and Miguel Montero singled home Didi Gregorius.
Holliday's two-run shot in the bottom of the inning tied the game.
Game Notes
Miller, 22, became the youngest Cardinals pitcher to homer since Rick Ankiel (2000, age 20) ... St. Louis hasn't lost a series since dropping two of three to the Pittsburgh Pirates April 26-28 ... Miller has struck out at least seven batters in six of his 12 starts this season ... Kennedy was charged with his first loss since May 5.