Lohse sparkles in Cardinals' 5-1 win

~ The right-hander improved to 3-0 with another strong outing vs. the Pirates

PITTSBURGH -- St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Kyle Lohse doesn't need much run support to win the way he is pitching at the moment.

The same goes for Pittsburgh's Erik Bedard.

Lohse, however, has the luxury of playing on the team with the National League's best offense. It made all the difference Sunday.

Lohse scattered six hits while pitching into the eighth inning to lead the Cardinals past the Pirates 5-1.

David Freese had a two-run single and Rafael Furcal had three hits, while Lohse (3-0) turned in another strong start. He struck out five without issuing a walk in a outing where his ERA rose slightly from 0.89 to 0.99.

"Man he's unreal," Freese said about Lohse. "I've heard other guys say that when he hits his spots, he's one of the toughest in the game to string some hits together. And he's showing it, for sure."

So is Bedard, who again was undone by a lack of run support.

The left-hander gave up three runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out seven in seven innings but it wasn't enough to keep his record from falling to 0-4. The Pirates have scored three runs with Bedard on the mound this season.

"All you can do is battle," Bedard said. "Runs will come, and right now they're just not coming. You keep doing what you can and put zeroes up there."

Lohse improved to 8-2 in his career against Pittsburgh, having his way with baseball's worst offense. His only mistake came in the eighth, when Mike McKenry led off with a double and scored on Casey McGehee's pinch-hit single to trim St. Louis' lead to 3-1.

Mitchell Boggs came on in relief and shut the door. Nate McLouth flied to left and Boggs held onto Jose Tabata's sharp grounder back to the mound to start an inning-ending double play.

The Cardinals tacked on two runs off Evan Meek in the ninth for the final margin.

Bedard kept the Pirates close despite a rocky first inning in which the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs, just as they did against A.J. Burnett on Saturday night.

Burnett escaped his jam unscathed, but Bedard gave up a run when Carlos Beltran hit into a double play.

St. Louis made it 3-0 in the third when Furcal led off with a double and Tyler Greene walked. Bedard retired Matt Holliday and Beltran, but Freese lined a two-strike single to right.

The hit ended a 1-for-25 funk by the Cardinals with runners in scoring position.

"I didn't even know it was that bad," Freese said. "But you feel it a little. You definitely understand what's happening, what's been going on."

Bedard didn't give up another hit over his final four innings.

The Pirates have remained competitive with a pitching staff that ranks third in the NL in ERA (2.53) despite a team batting average of .203 -- easily the worst in the majors .

Pittsburgh hasn't scored more than five runs or given up more than five runs in a game this season. It's the longest such streak to start a year in the NL since the 1965 Pirates.

That team, which featured three Hall of Famers in Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell and Bill Mazeroski, shook off a 6-10 start to finish 90-72.

This version of the Pirates lacks that kind of star power and will need to find some offense if it wants to be a factor this summer.

"We've scored [three] runs in Erik's starts," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's problematic."

The Cardinals have no such worries. The defending World Series champions are the National League's top offensive team despite losing slugger Albert Pujols in the offseason.

St. Louis has outscored its opponents by 36 runs through the season's first two weeks -- the most in the NL -- and has won its first six series of the season.

"That's what you try to do. You try to win series," Freese said. "You want to sweep, but that's obviously not going to happen all the time. Consistency, that's the name of this game, and we're doing that pretty well right now."

Noteworthy

* St. Louis center fielder John Jay will fly back to St. Louis to have his sprained right shoulder re-examined.

* The Cardinals begin a three-game series in Chicago tonight. Jaime Garcia (2-0, 3.06 ERA) will face Matt Garza (1-1, 3.66).