Wainwright wins No. 14

~ Ankiel's 11th homer helped St. Louis win its fourth straight.

PITTSBURGH -- Adam Wainwright recovered from a shaky start to pitch seven sharp innings and Rick Ankiel homered and had three RBIs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.

Wainwright only retired two batters while giving up four hits and three runs in the first inning, but then allowed only two baserunners the rest of the contest. He gave up six hits, walked one and struck out four.

Ankiel, Albert Pujols and Gary Bennett each had three hits for the defending World Series champions, who have won four in a row entering their season finale today.

Ronny Paulino reached base three times for Pittsburgh, which has lost three in a row and 12 of 14.

The Pirates made it 3-0 in the first on doubles by Nyjer Morgan, Adam LaRoche and Jose Bautista and an RBI single by Steve Pearce. But Wainwright (14-12) would face the minimum through the next five innings, retiring 15 of the next 16 batters.

Wainwright, who had not won a game since Sept. 1, improved to 3-1 this season against Pittsburgh.

After Tom Gorzelanny (14-10) retired the Cardinals in order in the first, St. Louis closed to 3-2 in the second on RBI singles by Ankiel and Bennett.

Ankiel's homer in the fourth, his 11th of the year, tied it at 3-3. David Eckstein drove in Bennett with a two-out single later in the inning, and Ankiel drove in his third run the following inning when his single scored Albert Pujols to make it 5-3.