Cardinals rough up Reds

ST. LOUIS -- Carlos Beltran may not be Albert Pujols, but he's doing a pretty good impression these days.

Beltran homered again Wednesday night to help the St. Louis Cardinals extend their winning streak to a season-high four games with an 11-1 rout of the slumping Cincinnati Reds.

Beltran hit a two-run shot, which was his fifth homer overall and second of the series.

Not bad for a No. 2 hitter.

"I know I'm not the typical second batter that's going to go out there and play the hit-and-run and things like that," Beltran said. "I'm not thinking that way. I'm thinking about getting good at-bats."

The Cardinals signed Beltran in the offseason in the hopes that he would ease the pain of losing Pujols in free agency. He's done just that so far.

"Beltran's an All-Star, Golden Glove, Silver Bat," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "The guy has some accolades behind him, too."

Pujols, meanwhile, began the day with no home runs this year. The three-time NL MVP joined the Los Angeles Angels in the offseason.

Tyler Greene also had a two-run homer, while Rafael Furcal had four hits and drove in two runs.

Jaime Garcia (2-0) allowed one run on seven hits and three walks. He was aided by four double plays and helped his cause with a triple off the wall in center field in the sixth that made it 7-1 and chased Mat Latos (0-2).

"He killed us with the bat and the ball," Baker said. "He kept us off-balance and he got those double plays. Four double plays, that's a killer. That's eight outs on four pitches."

Garcia was happy for the help from his defense.

"The double plays are a good sign," he said. "Basically every time I get someone on base, that's what I want to do."

The Reds have dropped five of the first six games on their 10-game road trip and already are five games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central. Devin Mesoraco drove in Cincinnati's only run with an infield single in the fifth.

Latos lasted 5 2/3 innings for his longest stint of the year, but he was touched for eight runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out six.

The Cardinals greeted Latos rudely when Furcal doubled down the line in right to lead off the first, and Beltran followed with a walk.

Furcal later scored on Lance Berkman's infield single, and David Freese delivered a two-run double.

Beltran made it 5-0 when he homered with two out in the second. That was not an uncommon occurrence. Beltran also had homered off Latos in his two other official at-bats coming into Wednesday, though Latos later did retire Beltran for the first time in the fourth on a groundout.

"It's not like he's reading my mind," Latos said. "He's a good hitter and he looks for a certain pitch. I fell behind and he got a pitch that he wanted to hit, and he did."

Adam Wainwright, who never has started a season 0-2, will try to avoid a third consecutive defeat when he takes the ball for St. Louis today.