NL | Cardinals rally to beat Reds, 7-5

ST. LOUIS - Skip Schumaker benefited from a late lineup switch with a career-best three hits and two RBIs, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rally from an early four-run deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-5, yesterday.

Adam Kennedy's second double of the game snapped a sixth-inning tie for the Cardinals, who won consecutive home games for the first time this season. St. Louis is 3-7 overall at Busch Stadium, where it wrapped up its first World Series title in 24 years last fall.

The Cardinals trailed 4-0 in the third before getting to Kyle Lohse (1-1) for one in the third, ending his streak of 20 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. They added three more in the fifth and one in the sixth against Lohse, who gave up 11 hits in six innings.

Brandon Phillips homered, doubled and had three RBIs for the Reds, who are 3-7 in their last 10. Alex Gonzalez tripled and singled, going 8 for 13 with two homers and five RBIs in the three-game series, and David Ross homered.

Schumaker was 4 for 27 (.148) in a bench role, with 14 of the at-bats as a pinch hitter, before replacing Chris Duncan in left field in a move announced just before the start of the game. He doubled in the third to produce the Cardinals' first run, had an RBI single in the fifth and singled in the seventh.

Jason Isringhausen finished for his sixth save in seven chances.

The game was delayed for 49 minutes with one out in the ninth because of rain. When it resumed, Isringhausen got Josh Hamilton to ground out and struck out Juan Castro to end it.

Pirates 5, Astros 3

PITTSBURGH - Jason Bay's two-run single in the sixth inning off Wandy Rodriguez gave Pittsburgh the win over Houston and its second three-game sweep of the Astros this season.

The Astros stranded 13 runners and played sloppily in the field with two errors during Pittsburgh's go-ahead sixth inning against Rodriguez (0-3).

Houston pushed across two runs in the ninth but John Grabow got Adam Everett to ground out with the bases loaded to end the game. It was Grabow's first save since 2004.