Redbirds encounter fourth loss in a row

~ The Giants swept the two-game series with a 6-2 victory.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rich Aurilia spent his first nine big league seasons as a fan favorite in San Francisco. Now, in his second stint with the Giants after three years away, he is as beloved as ever.

Aurilia provided the key hit for the second time in 15 1/2 hours. His two-run, sixth-inning double broke a tie and helped Noah Lowry to his first win of the season, a 6-2 victory over the struggling St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

"It makes me feel good in the sense that I had success here in the past," said Aurilia, who was thrilled it worked out for him to return this season. "I'm not getting any younger but I feel I can still play and contribute to a winning team."

Aurilia singled in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th in a 6-5 win Wednesday night, then doubled to right to spoil what had been a good effort by St. Louis starter Kip Wells.

Randy Winn drove in two runs, including a sacrifice fly in San Francisco's three-run sixth, which also featured Dave Roberts' one-out infield single followed by a stolen base.

Wells appeared to have single-handedly worked the reigning World Series champions out of a jam. He homered, singled and scored two runs, but the Cardinals couldn't hold a 2-0 lead and lost their fourth straight and fifth in six games.

"I was in hot water and they did a good job of hitting hittable pitches," Wells said. "You have to make better pitches when runs are at a premium."

The Cardinals' 6-9 start is the worst by a reigning title team since the 1998 Florida Marlins opened 1-11.

"If you pay attention to our club, you know what our concerns are," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "It's not necessary to spell it out. We got beat, we're not doing enough and we're going to fix it."

Lowry (1-2) allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings. The lefty struck out four, walked two and surrendered his first home run of the season.

Wells (1-3) sent the first pitch from Lowry just over the left-field fence leading off the fifth. It was the pitcher's fourth career home run, first with the Cardinals and first since Aug. 19, 2005, for the Pirates at Philadelphia.

The right-hander, who pitched seven shutout innings against the Giants on July 28, allowed leadoff singles in the first and second innings but still got a double play and a caught stealing and faced the minimum through four.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead when Wells scored on David Eckstein's sacrifice in the third, which first baseman Ryan Klesko misplayed for an error.

After Ray Durham reached on first baseman Albert Pujols' fielding error at first to start the fifth, Klesko tripled to right-center and just made it safely.

Winn drove in Klesko moments later, reaching when second baseman Aaron Miles' throw to Pujols was in the dirt for another error.

Klesko fell a homer shy of hitting for the cycle, adding an RBI double in the eighth to make it 6-2.