Cardinals beat Diamondbacks 3-1 behind Lackey

PHOENIX -- John Lackey pitched seven strong innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat Arizona 3-1 on Wednesday night, their seventh straight win over the Diamondbacks.

The Cardinals scored four first-inning runs off Robbie Ray on Tuesday, but had to wait a little longer Wednesday with Patrick Corbin limiting them to Mark Reynolds' homer in six innings.

St. Louis quickly took advantage after Corbin left, scoring twice off David Hernandez (1-4) in the seventh. Kolten Wong had an RBI double and Matt Carpenter a run-scoring single in the inning.

Lackey (11-8) bounced back from a shaky start, giving up a solo homer to Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning and little else. Trevor Rosenthal worked around a walk in the ninth for his 40th save.

St. Louis moved to 36 games over .500 (81-45), its highest since finishing the 2005 season plus-38. The Cardinals have won 12 of 13 against Arizona.

Lackey had a streak of 12 straight quality starts snapped his last time out, allowing five runs and nine hits in six innings of a loss to San Diego.

The right-hander was back on track against the Diamondbacks, getting them to chase breaking balls out of the strike zone for most of the game.

Goldschmidt got a good piece of a ball in the strike zone in the first inning, hitting a 471-foot solo homer, his 25th of the season. It was the 108th of his career, matching Justin Upton for fifth on Arizona's all-time list.

Lackey limited the damage after that with some defensive help from his teammates.

Centerfielder Tommy Pham robbed Aaron Hill of extra bases in the fourth inning by diving to snare a line drive in the gap. Wong made a nifty backhanded stop in the fifth to start an inning-ending double play.

Lackey gave up a run and seven hits, the 11th time in 13 starts he allowed two runs or less.

Corbin lasted six outs his last start, allowing four runs and eight hits against Cincinnati in a no-decision.

The left-hander was sharp against the Cardinals, giving up two hits -- one by Lackey -- until Reynolds lined a solo homer over the wall in left in the fifth inning. The homer, which tied the game 1-all, was Reynolds' 11th of the season.

Corbin allowed the run and three hits and struck out seven in his 10th start since returning from Tommy John surgery.

Up next

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez has a 2.15 ERA since May 20 heading into today's series final against the Diamondbacks.

Diamondbacks: RHP Rubby De La Rosa, today's starter, is 5-0 with a 2.54 ERA and 26 strikeouts in his last seven starts.

Trainer's room

Cardinals: OF Jon Jay, who's been bothered by a sore wrist, took an extended round of batting practice before the game.

Diamondbacks: LF David Peralta fouled a ball into the dirt that bounced back up and hit him in the nose, but he stayed in the game after being attended to by the team trainer.