Re-armed Cards stop Phillies

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Matt Morris returned to the mound for St. Louis and received some help from his two new teammates.

Sterling Hitchcock won in his St. Louis debut Saturday, pitching a scoreless inning in relief of Morris as the Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies for the first in eight meetings, 5-3.

"It was great to have some fresh arms," La Russa said. "We needed that."

Hitchcock, who was acquired Friday from the New York Yankees in exchange for two minor leaguers, took over for Morris, who was making his first start since July 21, to start the sixth with the Cardinals trailing 1-0. He allowed a hit to Bobby Abreu to start the inning, but escaped unscathed. St. Louis then scored five times in the bottom half to take control.

Mike DeJean also made his first appearance since coming to St. Louis from Milwaukee on Friday. He pitched a scoreless seventh, but gave up two runs on two hits in the eighth on RBI singles by Jim Thome and Chase Utley.

Morris allowed a run and six hits in five innings in his first game since being hit by a line drive by San Diego's Mark Kotsay and breaking his hand.

"It felt good to get out there and compete again," Morris said.

Jim Edmonds went 4-for-4 and Jason Isringhausen worked out of a one-out bases-loaded jam for the Cardinals.

Isringhausen then pitched a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 15 chances. Isringhausen normally works one inning.

"That didn't bother me," Isringhausen said of pitching the eighth. "My job is to make pitches, and I thought I did that pretty well."

What did bother Isringhausen was giving up a two-out single to Abreu in the ninth. That brought up Jim Thome, who already had three hits and an RBI -- his 100th of the season. Thome, who went 3-for-4, is 9-for-17 against St. Louis (.529) with 10 RBIs.

After Abreau stole second, Isringhausen intentionally walked Thome and got Pat Burrell to fly out to center to end the game.

"You want to face the best, but I wasn't going to let him (Thome) beat me," Isringhausen said.

Phillies manager Larry Bowa said he told Abreau not to steal.

"But it didn't make any difference," Bowa said. "Those pitches to Thome were in the other batter's box, they were so far outside. They weren't going to let him hit anything."

Albert Pujols was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Phillies starter Amaury Telemaco to start the sixth inning. Pujols, who went 0-for-5 Friday to snap his 30-game hitting, remained in the game and scored the tying run.

Edmonds tied a career high by going 4-for-4. It is the 16th time in his career and fourth time this year he had four hits.

"I'm just happy for the team," Edmonds said. "We needed this one. We have a good team, and hopefully, we're going to find a way to get it done."

After Pujols was hit, Edmonds and Scott Rolen followed with singles off Telemaco (1-1) to load the bases. Dan Plesac relieved and walked pinch-hitter Eduardo Perez to force in a run and tie the score 1-all.

Edgar Renteria gave the Cardinals a 2-1 lead with a single to left off reliever Terry Adams. Pinch-hitter Kerry Robinson drove home two more with a single to right, and Miguel Cairo capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to center and make it 5-1.

Telemaco was charged with three runs on six hits in five-plus innings. He had beaten the Cardinals 6-4 in his last start Sunday, which was his first appearance in the majors since July 16, 2001.

Telemaco said that he had no intention of hitting Pujols.

"It was a sinker that slipped out of my hand," he said. "Totally an accident. You don't want to hit anybody with a one-run lead. But it didn't bother me. I just didn't make the pitches after that."

Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Pat Burrell. Notes: Pujols finished 0-for-3. ... For his career, Thome is batting .472 (25-for-53) against the Cardinals with 13 home runs and 28 RBI. ... After going 8-for-60 coming out of the All-Star break, Edmonds has six hits in his last nine at-bats. ... Telemaco's fifth-inning double extended Philadelphia's streak to 21 straight games with a double. The Phillies entered the day on pace to hit 333 doubles, which would be the most since 1930. ... The one run allowed by Morris is the fewest he's allowed since he shutout the Pirates 9-0 on May 24. ... The Cardinals Tino Martinez is in an 0-for-10 slide. La Russa pinch-hit for Martinez in the sixth with the bases loaded.