Major League Baseball

Holliday leads Cardinals over Phillies

Published Aug. 12, 2012 4:15 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

Cliff Lee's home runs allowed are up, his wins are down.

Way down.

In fact, Lee remains stuck on 0 in the win column this season at home for the Phillies.

Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer and Jake Westbrook won his fifth straight start to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.

Lee (2-7) retired 12 straight batters before the Cardinals tagged him for consecutive hits to open the sixth inning. Holliday followed with a shot to right for his 22nd homer of the season.

He remained winless at Citizens Bank Park this season - and hasn't won here since September 5, 2011.

''I had the game in hand,'' Lee said.

Lee has allowed four earned runs or more in each of his last four home starts. He's winless in his last 11 home starts.

Lee has allowed eight homers over his last three home starts and 19 overall on the season. Lee gave up 18 homers in 232 2-3 innings last season.

''I just know, in this ballpark especially, I've got to be more down in the zone and induce some groundballs,'' he said. ''When they're hitting the ball in the air, that's not good for me.''

The World Series champion Cardinals are in the thick of the wild-card hunt and Westbrook gave them a needed 7 2-3 strong innings. Westbrook (12-8) allowed four hits, walked two and struck out three.

Jason Motte struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 26th save.

Staked to a 1-0 lead, Lee was cruising and had his first home victory in nearly a year in sight until Holliday took him deep. Carlos Beltran added an RBI single in the eighth to make it 4-1 and chase the lefty. Lee allowed 10 hits, walked none and struck out four in 7-plus innings.

He left two runners stranded in the first inning and stranded another runner at third in the second.

Lee, a 17-game winner last season, was expected to form a trio of aces of Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels that would keep the Phillies in contention for a sixth straight playoff spot.

It hasn't worked out that way and the Phillies have disappointed.

''I know we've had a lot of things really not go our way this year,'' Lee said. ''I expect our talent over time to play out. I like our pitching staff. I like our team. For whatever reason, if it's not one thing, it's another.''

The Cardinals are trying to make a run at defending at their championship and Westbrook has helped keep their playoff dreams afloat. He's showed his durability with 12 straight starts of at least six innings, and matched his win total from 2011 (12-9) in 10 fewer starts (33 in 2011; 23 in 2012).

''He was as good as we've seen him,'' Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ''His sinker was falling off the table.''

Westbrook left after allowing a two-out single in the eighth. Marc Rzepczynski retired Chase Utley on a pop up to end the inning.

Westbrook allowed his only run in the first inning on Ryan Howard's fielder's choice. Utley's hard slide into second rattled shortstop Rafael Furcal on his throw to get Howard, allowing Dom Brown to score from third.

The Phillies never had a runner reach third after the first inning.

Holliday gave Westbrook all the run support he needed with a homer that barely cleared the right field wall and gave him 79 RBIs. Beltran leads the National League with 82 RBIs.

''Those two guys have been carrying the load,'' Matheny said.

NOTES: The Phillies honored starts of their past, including Bob Boone, Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt. Tim McCarver threw the first pitch to Steve Carlton. Brent Musburger was the guest umpire. Musburger was a minor league umpire for McCarver's first professional game for Waterloo in 1959. ... 3B Placido Polanco, on the disabled list since July with lower back inflammation, will travel with the team on next week's road trip and will likely need a rehab assignment before he returns to the Phillies. ... Cardinals 2B Ryan Jackson made his major league debut. ... Philadelphia sends Vance Worley (6-7) to the mound against Lance Lynn (13-5) in Sunday's finale.

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball