Reyes Gets Rare Win

Sunday, August 12th 2007, 4:18 pm

By: News On 6

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ Hard luck Anthony Reyes won his second game of the season and Ryan Ludwick homered and drove in four runs, helping the surging St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-2 on Sunday.

Reyes (2-11) worked six innings and got his first career hit and RBI during a five-run third for St. Louis, which took two of three from the sagging Dodgers to complete a 5-2 homestand.

Brendan Ryan hit a two-run homer and had three RBIs after being recalled earlier in the day, and Aaron Miles and David Eckstein had three hits apiece.

The Cardinals knocked out Mark Hendrickson in the third without Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen and Juan Encarnacion. Their patchwork pitching staff, which has the second-worst ERA in the National League at 4.74, wrapped up a stingy stretch in which the opposition totaled six runs in six games.

Edmonds and Rolen got days off due to a heat wave that had the temperature at 99 degrees at game-time, and Encarnacion was scratched due to knee soreness.

Reyes allowed two runs and seven hits, salvaging a lost year after becoming the first Cardinals pitcher since 1898 to begin the year 0-10. Both of his victories have come in his last four starts, and since being recalled on July 28 for a doubleheader against the Brewers, Reyes has a 3.33 ERA.

Along with the rare victory, Reyes enjoyed rare offensive backing. Six of the Cardinals' 10 shutout losses have come with the right-hander on the mound, and they entered the game averaging 2.18 runs in his starts _ lowest in the majors.

The Cardinals' 18 hits set a season high. Their previous best was 17 in a 7-6 victory over the Kansas City Royals on June 20.

Andre Ethier tripled and doubled with an RBI for the punchless Dodgers, who have lost eight of 10. During that stretch, Los Angeles has been shut out four times, scored one run once and two runs twice.

Hendrickson (4-7) lasted 2 2-3 innings, his shortest outing of the season, and gave up eight runs and 11 hits. He's 1-7 in his last 12 starts and 0-3 in five outings since his last win on July 8.

Ludwick, moved from fifth in the order to cleanup after Encarnacion was scratched, hit a three-run homer in the first. The Dodgers scored two in the second on Ethier's RBI triple and a sacrifice fly by Ramon Martinez before the Cardinals opened it up in the third, sending 10 batters to the plate.

Miles, Reyes, Ryan, Eckstein and Ludwick drove in a run apiece for an 8-2 lead.

Ryan, recalled from Triple-A Memphis when second baseman Adam Kennedy went on the 15-day disabled list with a knee injury, hit a two-run homer off Scott Proctor in the fifth.

Notes: Reyes has allowed 29 runs in the first two innings, and 26 thereafter. ... Hendrickson is 0-3 with a 7.65 ERA against the Cardinals. ... St. Louis has outscored the opposition 105-36 during its 15 wins since the All-Star break, and has been outscored 121-32 in its 15 losses. ... Rick Ankiel doubled and scored in the third, going 1-for-4. He's 6-for-16 with three homers and six RBIs since being recalled Thursday. ... Reyes was 1-for-21 at the plate before his hit.