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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Luis Gonzalez and the Arizona Diamondbacks had
a simple strategy for dealing with Rick Ankiel.
"He's a young pitcher who gets a lot of strikeouts, so we
thought he might tire himself out," Gonzalez said after driving in
three runs Thursday night in the Diamondbacks' 17-5 rout of the St.
Louis Cardinals.
|  | | Diamondbacks pitcher Geraldo Guzman improved to 3-1 with a 3.70 ERA. |
Danny Bautista homered twice, and Alex Cabrera and Gonzalez also
connected as the Diamondbacks stopped a four-game losing streak.
Cabrera was 3-for-6 with four RBIs, while Bautista and Gonzalez
each went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Greg Colbrunn was 4-for-5 and
also drove in three runs as Arizona piled on 19 hits and scored the
most runs off the Cardinals this season.
"You hope it's going to pay off when the strikes are piling up
and tonight it did," Colbrunn said. "His pitches started getting
up in the zone."
Ankiel (7-6) struck out 10 in 4 2-3 innings, but allowed six
runs and six hits.
"He's got a lot of talent, but all those strikeouts can take a
toll on you," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said.
Ankiel reached double digits in strikeouts for the fifth time in
19 starts. "The strikeouts don't matter," he said. "Unfortunately for
the team, I was getting the ball up."
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Cards' Drew returns to action
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ST. LOUIS (AP) -- J.D. Drew returned to the lineup Thursday
night, even though the St. Louis outfielder said he was not fully
recovered from the sprained left ankle that put him on the disabled
list for 15 days.
"It feels like a sprained ankle," Drew tersely said before the
game against Arizona. Drew was hitting .293 with 14 home runs and 41 RBIs before
injuring his ankle while running the bases.
Outfielder Chris Richards was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to
make room for Drew on the roster.
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Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Ankiel was too impressed
with his pitches early in the game. "He got a little carried away with how hard he was throwing and
his pitches started coming over the middle of the plate," La Russa said.
A night before Schilling's scheduled Diamondbacks' debut, rookie
Geraldo Guzman (3-1) gave up four runs and seven hits in 5 2-3
innings. Schilling, acquired Wednesday from Philadelphia, is
scheduled to start Friday at Florida.
St. Louis has lost five of eight and is 7-10 since injured Mark
McGwire last played on July 6.
Jay Bell's RBI grounder put Arizona ahead in the first, but Ray
Lankford's run-scoring single tied it in the bottom half.
Cabrera's two-run homer off Ankiel put the Diamondbacks back on
top in the fourth and Arizona chased Ankiel in a three-run fifth,
taking a 6-1 lead. Bautista hit a solo homer, Matt Williams had a
sacrifice fly and Greg Colbrunn hit an RBI single.
J.D. Drew, activated from the disabled list before the game
after being sidelined by a sprained left ankle, played left field
instead of his usual spot in right and made an error in the sixth
that led to three runs.
"You make that play 1000 times and the one time you take it for
granted, it bites you," Drew said. "I don't know how it
happened."
Drew dropped Bell's two-out fly for an error with a runner on
third, Gonzalez hit a two-run homer off Ankiel, Williams had an RBI
single and Colbrunn doubled in a run to make it 10-1.
St. Louis pulled to 10-4 in the bottom half on Lankford's
two-run homer, his 29th, and Eric Davis' RBI single.
Bautista, who was 3-for-5, hit a two-run homer in the seventh
off Alan Benes for the first multihomer game of his career.
Benes, who allowed seven runs -- six earned -- and eight hits in
three innings, gave up a two-run single to Cabrera in the eighth.
Gonzalez added an RBI double in a three-run ninth that included
Colbrunn's run-scoring single.
Game notes
Drew, his ankle still bothering him, was 2-for-4. ...
Eduardo Perez has a 10-game hitting streak (.394, 13-for-33). ...
Lankford played center for the first time this year. Jim Edmonds
played first.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
D-Backs holding pair of aces with Schilling deal
McGwire considers surgery if knee doesn't improve
RECAPS
Tampa Bay 8
Kansas City 5
Minnesota 9
NY Yankees 3
Texas 7
Detroit 3
Chi. White Sox 6
Anaheim 5
Boston 5
Oakland 4
Toronto 7
Seattle 2
NY Mets 4
Montreal 3
(2nd game)
NY Mets 9
Montreal 8
Chicago Cubs 4
Philadelphia 1
Los Angeles 16
Colorado 11
Milwaukee 4
Pittsburgh 3
Florida 12
Atlanta 4
Arizona 17
St. Louis 5
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Luis Gonzalez is hoping the Diamonbacks can pull away with the NL West lead.
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