Cardinals 3, Phillies 1
ST. LOUIS -- In their last game before a 10-day, 11-game road trip that could define the remainder of their regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals weren't caught looking ahead.
Lance Lynn bounced back from back-to-back losses to throw seven solid innings Thursday night, and St. Louis finished a sweep of the slumping Philadelphia Phillies with a 3-1 win at sold-out Busch Stadium.
Lynn (12-5) yielded five hits and one run, walking four and fanning six while moving within one of the National League lead in wins. He retired nine of his last 10 batters before turning it over to the bullpen.
Trevor Rosenthal worked around Jimmy Rollins' leadoff single in the eighth, and Edward Mujica pitched the ninth for his 30th save, tying Pittsburgh's Jason Grilli for the NL lead.
It was the 13th win in 18 games for the Cardinals (62-37), all against sub-.500 teams, and allowed them to expand their NL Central lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates to 2 1/2 games. Their next 15 games are against winning clubs, including the road trip's opener Friday night against the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves.
Philadelphia's Kyle Kendrick (9-7) allowed five hits and three runs over six innings. It was the fifth consecutive defeat for the Phillies (49-53), who stayed eight games back of Atlanta.
St. Louis broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning with three runs. Matt Carpenter lined a single to right, plating Pete Kozma from second, then scored on the next pitch when Jon Jay ripped a triple to right-center. Matt Adams' RBI single capped the rally.
Philadelphia got a run back in the fourth on Erik Kratz's one-out single that scored Laynce Nix, but even that accomplishment was tinged with failure. With runners at first and second, Kendrick hit a 1-2 bunt back to the mound for a 1-5-4 double play that ended the inning.
The Phillies also put men at first and second in the first, but Delmon Young's liner was snared by Lynn, who whirled and doubled Michael Young off first to end the threat.
NOTES: Philadelphia LF Domonic Brown was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list after being injured while diving for a Carlos Beltran triple in Tuesday night's 4-1 loss. The team recalled OF Steve Susdorf from Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he was hitting .335 with a homer and 25 RBIs, and moved LHP Jeremy Horst to the 60-day disabled list to make room for Susdorf on the 40-man roster ... St. Louis recalled LHP Marc Rzepczynski from Triple-A Memphis and optioned RHP Carlos Martinez back to Memphis. Rzepczynski was 1-2 with a 3.07 ERA in 32 games for the Redbirds after pitching poorly for the Cardinals in April. ... St. Louis also announced that rookie LHP John Gast (torn left lat muscle) will undergo surgery Friday and be lost for the year. Gast went 2-0 in three May starts, but he was injured May 25 at Dodger Stadium and hasn't pitched since.
