Coverage of today's Cards and Giants game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 2:10pm.

San Francisco, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Adam Wainwright pitched scoreless ball 
into  the eighth  inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals downed the San Francisco 
Giants, 2-0, in the middle test of a three-game series. 

Wainwright  (11-4)  collected his  NL-leading 11th  victory by scattering four 
hits and two walks over 7 2/3 terrific frames, effectively lowering his ERA to 
a minuscule 1.89. 

St.  Louis'  offense gave Wainwright some  early support as Matt Carpenter and 
Matt Holliday both singled in a run in the third inning. 

"It  was  nice to  get a little  bit of room," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny 
said. "We'll take what we got." 

Those  runs  ended a  string of  26 consecutive innings  the Cardinals had not 
scored, and even though they could not muster anything else off Giants starter 
Ryan Vogelsong, it was enough to halt a three-game slide. 

Vogelsong  (5-5) struck  out eight over seven  innings and gave up two runs on 
six hits to take a hard-luck loss. 

"We needed a great effort going against one of the elite pitchers in the game, 
and  (Vogelsong) gave us what we needed," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We 
just couldn't get any runs for him," 

San Francisco fell to 2-7 over its last nine games and has been shut out three 
times during the tough stretch. 

Oscar  Taveras  opened the away  third with  a double and  moved to third on a 
Mark  Ellis  base hit. After  Wainwright failed to  put down a bunt, Carpenter 
dribbled  one  through the middle  to knock  in Taveras, and Holliday followed 
with an opposite-field RBI single. 

Wainwright retired 15-of-16 hitters before finally hitting a speed bump in the 
eighth  when  Joe Panik and pinch-hitter  Hector Sanchez each singled with two 
away to put runners on the corners. 

With  his ace's  pitch count  at 107,  Matheny went  to his  bullpen, and  his 
decision to  insert Pat Neshek  paid off as  the reliever got Gregor Blanco on 
popup to short to end the threat. 

Trevor Rosenthal shook off a leadoff single in the ninth to post his 25th save 
of the season and finish off St. Louis' MLB-leading 16th shutout. 

                                   Game Notes 

San  Francisco has not  won consecutive home games since a three game sweep of 
the  Mets on  June 6-8 ... Wainwright has  allowed two runs or less in nine of 
his last 10 outings, the lone outlier coming on May 30 against the Giants, who 
shelled  him  for seven runs in  less than five innings ... Carpenter recorded 
three of the Cardinals' eight hits.