Burnett helps keep Cards quiet in their return home

ST. LOUIS -- A.J. Burnett gave up three hits in eight innings and Cliff Floyd homered twice as the Florida Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2 Tuesday night.

Mike Lowell also homered and had two RBIs while matching his career high with four hits for the Marlins. St. Louis, coming back from a 4-9 trip, trailed 4-0 after three innings.

Burnett (4-2) didn't allow a hit until Jim Edmonds' two-out, two-run homer in the fourth. He retired 10 batters in a row in one stretch and didn't allow an earned run.

In his last four starts, Burnett has given up five earned runs in 29 innings. He has a 0.42 ERA in three starts on the road.

Floyd had an RBI single in a three-run first against Darryl Kile (1-1) and two solo homers. He hit his ninth homer in the third and his 10th in the seventh just before Lowell his hit fifth, both off Mike Timlin, as the Marlins took a 6-2 lead.

Floyd is 13-for-34 (.382) with seven homers and 14 RBIs in the last 10 games. Floyd has two multihomer games this season and eight for his career.

Lowell added an RBI double and Derrek Lee had a sacrifice fly in the first, and Floyd's first homer made it 4-0 in the third.

Albert Pujols reached when Burnett's foot missed the bag covering on an infield roller for an error with two outs in the fourth and Edmonds followed with his seventh homer, and the 200th of his career.

Charles Johnson singled for his second hit in the eighth and eventually scored on a groundout by Alex Gonzalez to make it 7-2.

The Marlins missed a chance for a triple play in the seventh when Burnett threw wildly to second, over the head of Gonzalez, on an appeal play.

Pujols and Edmonds walked to start the inning. Tino Martinez then hit a blooper to shallow right that was caught be second baseman Luis Castillo. The runners thought the ball would drop and ran on the play.

The Marlins doubled Pujols off second and Edmonds went back to first. Florida thought Edmonds missed second and appealed, but Burnett's throw was wild and Edmonds advanced to second.

Kile lasted six innings, giving up four runs on seven hits. He struck out three and walked three.

Noteworthy

The Cardinals have been outscored 27-8 in the first inning.

Eli Marrero, who began the season 11-for-15, was hitless in three at-bats and is in an 0-for-17 slump that has dropped his average to .317.

Kile lost to the Marlins for the first time since Sept. 27, 1996, when he played for the Astros. He's 6-3 for his career against Florida.

Marlins LF Kevin Millar, who has a nine-game hitting streak, was a late scratch with a strained rib-cage muscle.