| SEASON | CAREER |
| W5 | 71 |
| L7 | 42 |
| G14 | 196 |
| IP84.2 | 959.0 |
| BB26 | 275 |
| SO80 | 804 |
| SEASON | CAREER |
| W2 | 8 |
| L3 | 12 |
| G12 | 50 |
| IP55.2 | 154.0 |
| BB28 | 66 |
| SO28 | 78 |
Carlos Beltran gave Kansas City Royals fans a glimpse into the past with a stellar performance in his return to Kauffman Stadium.
In fact, he's been downright unkind to his former team this season.
Beltran looks to help the St. Louis Cardinals' offense stay hot in the continuation of the I-70 Series on Saturday.
Nearly eight years to the day after the Royals traded the outfielder to Houston, Beltran had a pair of two-run doubles in the Cardinals' 11-4 victory Friday in his first game in Kansas City since the trade.
Beltran, who is a .299 career hitter at Kauffman Stadium, was the 1999 AL rookie of the year and had four seasons of at least 100 RBIs with the Royals.
"You know what? It was good to be back," Beltran said. "But it was better to put a good couple of swings together and get some runs."Every starter had a hit for the Cardinals (36-35), who had totaled 10 runs while losing three of their previous four.
"We needed to get our offense off to a good start and get rolling," manager Mike Matheny said, "but that's not the kind of offense you're going to get every time."Beltran is 8 for 19 in four games this season versus the Royals (31-37), who lost for only the third time in their last 10 contests.
Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer in his first game this season after having right knee surgery March 16.
"Yeah, we kind of ruined his welcome-home party with that game," manager Ned Yost said.Kansas City will look to bounce back against Adam Wainwright .
Wainwright (5-7, 4.46 ERA) has looked little like the 20-game winner he was last season, though he's improved of late. He's 1-1 with a 2.75 ERA over his last three starts after allowing one run over seven innings of St. Louis' 5-3, 15-inning loss to the Royals on Sunday.
"He deserved better," Matheny told the team's official website.
The right-hander is 2-1 with a 3.21 ERA in four career starts against Kansas City, which learned before Friday's game Felipe Paulino likely will have reconstructive surgery on his right elbow.
Paulino will join Danny Duffy , Joakim Soria and Blake Wood as Royals pitchers to undergo Tommy John surgery this season.
"Obviously, it's changed our plans for the rest of the year," Yost said. "You've got to move on. What's happened has happened. It was a big blow when we lost Duffy. It was a big blow when we lost Soria and Blake Wood the same way. But the world doesn't stop turning."It gives somebody an opportunity that they might not have had otherwise to show what they can do."Luis Mendoza , who opposed Wainwright in his last start, will take the mound again Saturday.
Mendoza (2-3, 4.69) allowed two runs in six innings Sunday in his second start since returning to the rotation. He allowed three runs over 12 innings in those outings after going 1-2 with a 6.08 ERA in his first five starts in 2012.
The right-hander has a 3.57 ERA in three career interleague starts, all of which have come this season.
@
@
AVG
HRRUNSSBSOBBOBPSLGOPS
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Lance Berkman | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 3.000 | 2.000 |
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Jason Bourgeois | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 1.000 |
| Billy Butler | 3 | .667 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .667 | 1.667 | 1.000 |
| Lorenzo Cain | 3 | .667 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .667 | 2.334 | 1.667 |
| Alcides Escobar | 13 | .154 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .200 | .354 | .154 |
| Jeff Francoeur | 13 | .308 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .438 | .976 | .538 |
| Alex Gordon | 7 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Mitch Maier | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Humberto Quintero | 6 | .167 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .286 | .453 | .167 |
| Jonathan Sanchez | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
 St. Louis Cardinals |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| June 06, 2012 | Jaime Garcia | 15-Day DL | Strained left shoulder |
| May 31, 2012 | Skip Schumaker | 15-Day DL | Strained right hamstring |
| May 31, 2012 | Skip Schumaker | 15-Day DL | Strained right hamstring |
| May 23, 2012 | Matt Carpenter | 15-Day DL | Strained right oblique |
| May 23, 2012 | Matt Carpenter | 15-Day DL | Strained right oblique |
| May 20, 2012 | Lance Berkman | 15-Day DL | Torn meniscus, right knee |
 Kansas City Royals |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| June 18, 2012 | Chris Getz | 15-Day DL | Lateral strain in lower left leg |
| June 17, 2012 | Chris Getz | Day-to-Day | Left game - Left lateral leg strain |
| June 07, 2012 | Felipe Paulino | 15-Day DL | Strained right groin |
| May 26, 2012 | Jarrod Dyson | Day-to-Day | Left game - Right hamstring injury |
| May 22, 2012 | Chris Getz | 15-Day DL | Left ribcage contusion |
| May 22, 2012 | Chris Getz | 15-Day DL | Left ribcage contusion |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is under no illusions that his team will be able to put up the kind of offense it has the first two games of its three-game series against Kansas City all the time.
Might as well take advantage of it while it's happening, though.
Matt Holliday had four hits and drove in a pair of runs, Allen Craig belted a two-run homer and finished with three RBIs, and Adam Wainwright enjoyed all that run support while shutting down the Kansas City Royals in an 8-2 victory on Saturday.
"That's the way it's mean to be," Matheny said. "We know this isn't the kind of offense you produce every night, but it gives you a lot of confidence."
The Cardinals came into the series scuffling on offense, but they've broken out of it in style while taking the first two games. They matched a season high with 17 hits on Friday night en route to an 11-4 victory, and were nearly as proficient at the plate during the Saturday matinee.
All to the delight of a crowd of 37,240 that was primarily dressed in red.
"When you have a lineup like we have, just keep us in the game," said Wainwright (6-7), who allowed two runs on four hits and two walks over seven sharp innings.
"That was a pretty dominant outing," Matheny said. "You can tell he's in a good place."
The Cardinals certainly feel like they're in a good place in Kansas City, where they improved to 26-15 in franchise history, and took a 3-2 lead in the season series.
"Everyone's working their tail off," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "They're doing what they need to do in terms of their work and preparation. They just need to take it to the field."
St. Louis started its offensive onslaught in the third inning against Luis Mendoza (2-4), when Rafael Furcal worked a two-out walk and back-to-back singles by Jon Jay and Holliday made it 1-0.
Mendoza eventually escaped the jam, but everything fell apart in the fifth.
Daniel Descalso started a run of five straight singles in the fifth for St. Louis, and RBI base hits by Jay and Holliday knocked Mendoza from the game. Kelvin Herrera came in and promptly gave up another RBI single to Carlos Beltran , staking the Cardinals to a 4-0 lead.
Furcal added another run with a single in the sixth, and even though Kansas City got two back in the bottom half on Alex Gordon 's run-scoring triple and Yuniesky Betancourt 's RBI groundout, St. Louis wasted little time in matching them with two more runs in the seventh inning.
That's when Holliday doubled off reliever Greg Holland , and Craig belted a full-count pitch over the bullpen in left field for his ninth homer of the season.
"They were pitching me tough, a lot of sliders and fastballs off the plate," Craig said. "I just tried to put the barrel of the bat on it, and when you do that good things happen."
All the offense sure took the pressure off Wainwright.
The former 20-game winner spent most of the afternoon looking like the guy who finished second in the 2010 Cy Young voting - before he needed season-ending Tommy John surgery last February.
Wainwright erased Gordon's bunt single in the first by inducing a double play, and then set Kansas City down in order the next two innings. He didn't allow a runner to reach second base until giving up two runs in the sixth, but he bounced back to work a scoreless seventh inning.
"I didn't really have great stuff, I just tried to mix and keep them off balance," Wainwright said. "I knew if I kept making pitches, I had a big lead."
NOTES: Hall of Fame golfer Tom Watson threw out the first pitch. ... Royals C Salvador Perez got the day off after his return the previous night from a torn knee ligament. Manager Ned Yost expects him to catch Sunday. ... RHP Lance Lynn will pitch the series finale Sunday for St. Louis. LHP Jonathan Sanchez will start for Kansas City.
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St. Louis Cardinals