Cardinals rally to shrink Giants

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals got another positive sign from their former closer while taking down the San Francisco Giants' bullpen.

Light-hitting Skip Schumaker capped a three-run eighth with a go-ahead infield hit after Ryan Franklin kept it close in the top half of the inning by striking out the side, leading St. Louis to a 4-3 victory Tuesday night.

Franklin (1-3) earned his first victory since July 30 in his first appearance at home since April 23 and helped the Cardinals take tough-luck Chris Carpenter off the hook.

"I think he's used the time to get his delivery back together and quit tipping," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "If we're going to stay in this thing, he's a contributor."

Franklin's ERA remains an unsightly 7.36, but he's had three straight scoreless outings covering 4 2/3 innings.

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols connects for a solo home run in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Monday, May 30, 2011 in St. Louis. The Giants beat the Cardinals 7-3.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

"It feels good," Franklin said. "It feels real good."

Rookie Fernando Salas finished for his 10th save in 10 chances.

Giants rookie Brandon Belt had X-rays for a bruised left wrist after getting hit by a Trever Miller pitch in the seventh. Emmanuel Burris hit for Belt in the ninth and struck out to end the game.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Belt likely would be out for a few days.

"It got me pretty good," Belt said. "I'm a little stiff, but we took a few X-rays and everything looked pretty good. Hopefully I'll get back out here as soon as possible."

Cardinals baserunner Skip Schumaker reacts after safely sliding into first base for an RBI single during the eighth inning Tuesday in St. Louis. (TOM GANNAM ~ Associated Press)

Albert Pujols and Allen Craig hit RBI doubles in the eighth before Schumaker, who had been in a 2 for 19 slump, got the go-ahead single against Javier Lopez (2-1) on a perfectly placed grounder between first and second. Schumaker's headfirst dive into the bag beat the throw from second baseman Freddy Sanchez, who went far to his left to glove the ball.

"Sanchez made a heck of a play to get there, and when he caught it I went, 'Oh my gosh,'" Schumaker said. "I knew I was going to dive. I had my mind made up already."

Lopez broke late to cover first and both he and first baseman Belt were near the bag. Lopez was not on the base when he caught an offline late throw.

"I think that played a role because Freddy didn't know who exactly to throw to," Lopez said. "It's definitely not a routine play. It's just one of those where we're on the bad end."

Lopez lost for the first time since July 30 with Pittsburgh, the same day Franklin earned his last victory.

Schumaker also made the best defensive play of the game at second base, ranging far to his left to throw out Sanchez in the seventh.

Ryan Vogelsong pitched five effective innings for the Giants, yielding a run and six hits. It was the fifth consecutive solid outing for the right-hander, who replaced injured Barry Zito in the rotation in late April.

Vogelsong turned in a nice outing despite some troubles with the mound.

"I just never really got comfortable until about the third inning with the slope," he said. "I don't know quite what it was."

Vogelsong had been 1-4 with an 8.49 ERA in 14 career games against St. Louis.

Carpenter had a season-high eight strikeouts but otherwise labored, working with runners in scoring position all but one of his five innings and leaving down 2-1 after 103 pitches. The ace right-hander remained at 1-5 but avoided losing four straight decisions for the first time since 2002 with Toronto.