Red-hot Cardinals trounce bungling Pirates, win 14-3

ST. LOUIS -- Edgar Renteria and Miguel Cairo had three RBIs apiece and the St. Louis Cardinals took advantage of five Pittsburgh errors in beating the Pirates 14-3 Friday night.

Mark McGwire hit his first Busch Stadium homer since Aug. 1 and Cairo doubled in three straight at-bats as St. Louis won for the 12th time in 14 games closed within three games of Houston, the NL Central leader. The Cardinals began the night with a three-game lead over San Francisco in the wild card race.

Jason Kendall, the Pirates' regular catcher, made his eight start in right field and made a pair of errors. The Pirates also had throwing errors by second baseman Rob Mackowiak, third baseman Aramis Ramirez, shortstop Jack Wilson and reliever Mike Lincoln in their first six-error game since May 9, 1988, at home against the Giants.

Pittsburgh had four-error games against the Cardinals on May 7 and May 17.

Dustin Hermanson (14-13) overcame a rocky start to tie his career high for victories, set in 1998 with Montreal. Hermanson threw 37 pitches in a scoreless first, escaping a bases-loaded jam, and gave up one run and four hits in six innings.

Brian Giles homered twice and drove in all three runs for the Pirates, who are 3-12 against the Cardinals and have been outscored 102-35. Giles connected off Hermanson in the fifth and hit a two-run homer, his 36th, off Dave Veres in the seventh.

Pirates starter Todd Ritchie (11-14) lasted three innings, giving up five runs and five hits. Ritchie, who began the year 0-8, entered needing wins in his last two starts to become the first pitcher since 1900 reach .500 after losing his first eight decisions. He is 0-4 with a 7.43 ERA against the Cardinals this year.

Renteria had a two-run single in the Cardinals' four-run first and added a sacrifice fly in the fifth to make it 7-1.

McGwire, who has four homers in his last six games, hit his 28th leading off the third. He went 36 at-bats between homers at Busch, where he has hit 13 this year.

Cairo, who entered in the fifth, hit a three-run double in the seventh. The Cardinals scored two runs earlier in the seventh when Lincoln threw wildly to third in an attempt at a force on Craig Paquette's bunt, allowing McGwire to score from second and Jim Edmonds to score from first.

NOTES: He threw 12 pitches in the first to Mackowiak, who fouled off eight before taking a called third strike. Ritchie threw 33 pitches in the bottom of the first as the Cardinals scored four runs. ... The Pirates, who took two of three from Chicago before coming to St. Louis, are 0-13-1 in the game following a series win. ... Warren Morris hadn't struck out 45 plate appearances since Aug. 10, the longest streak in the majors, before taking a called third strike as a pinch hitter in the fourth. ... The Cardinals are 45-23 since the All-Star break. ... The Pirates played on the road for the first time since Sept. 2 at Cincinnati. They're 20-53 on the road, the worst road mark in the majors.