St. Louis moves to 50 games over .500

DENVER -- It doesn't seem to matter what lineup the St. Louis Cardinals throw out there.

Playing without four regulars and using relievers from start to finish, the Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 10-6 on Saturday.

John Mabry hit a three-run homer, Roger Cedeno added a disputed two-run shot and the Cardinals had 11 hits to go 50 games over .500 for the first time since 1944 (105-49).

Randy Flores (1-0) threw two scoreless innings to pick up his first major league win and Jason Isringhausen got the last out for his 46th save.

Not bad for a team that had Scott Rolen, Larry Walker, Jim Edmonds and Tony Womack on the bench.

With the NL Central title already clinched, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa got creative with his lineup.

Matt Morris, the scheduled starter, was given the day off to rest for the playoffs. Reliever Al Reyes didn't know he was making his first big league start until arriving at the park.

Yadier Molina, listed as the starting catcher, was replaced by Mike Matheny just before the first pitch but came in for Matheny in the sixth inning and hit a two-run double in the ninth. Pitcher Woody Williams even came in as a pinch hitter.

"They have a very strong club. They don't have a lot of holes," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.

Reyes did his part in his first start on any level since 1998, pitching three perfect innings before giving way to Rick Ankiel.

Ankiel started off by doing exactly what the Cardinals didn't want to see: hit his first batter. After all, it was control problems that forced the left-hander to spend most of the past four seasons in the minors.

Luis Gonzalez followed with a single and Todd Helton knocked in Colorado's first run with another single. Ankiel then threw a hanging curveball to Todd Greene, who hit it over the wall in left for a three-run homer that put the Rockies up 4-1.

Ankiel was pulled after giving up five runs and six hits in two innings.

"It's just a bump in the road," said Ankiel, who pitched four scoreless innings in his first two games this season. "I left a couple of balls up and they got whacked. It's an occupational hazard."