Wainright jump-starts Cards’ HR barrage

ST. LOUIS — A three-run homer by Adam Wainwright ignited a power surge at Busch Stadium, which didn’t end until the Cardinals blasted the five home runs off Phillies pitching en route to a 10-3 victory that snapped Philadelphia’s winning streak at six.

The Phillies actually led early in this one, peppering Wainwright for three runs on three third-inning hits. But Wainwright erased the deficit himself the next inning when he sent a Jeremy Hellickson fastball into Busch Stadium’s Big Mac Land, giving the Cardinals’ ace his second consecutive three-RBI game.

“Right now, it’s all about wins for me,” Wainwright (2-3) said. “We have to win the game when I take the mound until I get 100 percent back ready to rock and roll like I’m going to. That seemingly woke us up a bit.”

The Cardinals, who entered the day ranked third in the Majors with 35 home runs, weren’t done depositing balls into the seats either. Matt Adams and Aledmys Diaz took Hellickson deep in a three-pitch span to give the Cardinals their first set of back-to-back homers on the night. Yes, there would be another.

Those came in the seventh when Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk took reliever Brett Oberholtzer deep. More >

“We haven’t had one of those games in a while,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. “They’re bound to happen. Everybody has them.”

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Bombs a-Waino: After delivering a bases-loaded triple in the final at-bat of his last start, Wainwright tallied another two extra-base hits on Monday. The Cardinals couldn’t make anything of his leadoff double in the third. Wainwright followed that with a game-tying blast into the second deck an inning later. The homer, which traveled 408 feet at an exit velocity of 105 mph, was the seventh of Wainwright’s career.

“He has been a big offensive contributor here for us lately,” …

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