Edmonds, Kile team up, hound Anaheim

ST. LOUIS -- Jim Edmonds homered in his first game against his former team and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Anaheim Angels 7-2 Tuesday night.

Darryl Kile allowed six hits in 7 2/3 innings, winning for the third time in four starts, and the Cardinals took sole possession of first place in the NL Central for the first time since April 15.

Edmonds, who played for the Angels from 1993-99, hit his 13th homer to lead off the third.

Tino Martinez followed Edmonds' homer with a double over the head of right fielder Tim Salmon and Edgar Renteria, the next batter, hit a two-run opposite-field homer to make it 6-0 and chase starter Kevin Appier.

Appier (5-6) lost for the fifth straight start. He lasted only two-plus innings, giving up six runs on nine hits. It was the shortest appearance of the year for Appier, who has pitched 9 1-3 innings in his last three starts, giving up 14 runs.

Appier is 0-3 with a 10.71 ERA in four appearances against the Cardinals.

Kile (5-4) struck out five and walked one, rebounding from his shortest outing in two seasons, when he surrendered five runs in 4 1-3 innings June 12 at Seattle. He held the Angels scoreless until Darin Erstad's RBI single with one out in the eighth.

Kile won for the first time in three career decisions against the Angels, and raised his interleague record to 5-9. In his previous two starts against the Angels, he allowed nine earned runs in 11 2-3 innings.

Edmonds was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. He also made a running catch of Brad Fullmer's drive to the warning track in the seventh, falling in a cloud of dust after the grab.

The Cardinals scored in the first on two singles and a sacrifice fly by J.D. Drew. Fernando Vina had a sacrifice fly and Drew drove in a run with a groundout in the second.

Jason Isringhausen, sidelined by an elbow injury since June 4, worked the ninth.

Noteworthy

The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 20-6 in the last four games. ... The Angels have lost three in a row. This is their worst slump since they lost four in a row April 17-20. ... The Cardinals are 22-10 at home, the best record in the major leagues. ... Kile got a bunt single in the second -- his second hit in 21 at-bats. ... The Cardinals are 7-3 in interleague play this year. ... They're 10 games above .500 for the first time since they were 93-69 at the end of last season. ... Vina added an RBI double in the eighth for St. Louis. ... Placido Polanco singled in his first two at-bats and has an 11-game hitting streak.