The last of them was arguably the most important

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Matt Carpenter had a career-high five hits for St. Louis on Wednesday night. The last of them was arguably the most important. Carpenter delivered a go-ahead double in the 11th inning, and the Cardinals added two more runs on a single by Allen Craig, sending them to a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals and ending a frustrating three-game losing streak. "Sometimes it takes an emotional victory like this to kind of jumpstart a team," said Carpenter, who also reached base on a walk. "Maybe this one will be the one for us." The Royals rallied with two runs in the ninth, and the game remained tied until the 11th, when Peter Bourjos worked a one-out walk off Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera (1-2). Carpenter then rapped his double to centre field, drawing a roar from a crowd comprised mostly of Cardinals fans. Craig added his single off Tim Collins later in the inning, and Pat Neshek breezed through the bottom half to end the Royals six-game winning streak against National League clubs. Sam Freeman (1-0) earned the win with a perfect 10th inning. "It was just one of those gut-check games," Craig said. "Were not going to stop competing." Carpenter became the first Cardinal to record five hits in a game since Ryan Ludwick on Sept. 4, 2009. He had a part in his clubs first three runs, driving in Mark Ellis in the second inning and scoring on Matt Hollidays groundout in the seventh After St. Louis dropped the first two games of the four-game, two-city set at Busch Stadium, the NL champs rebounded to win for the eighth straight time at Kauffman Stadium. The Cardinals persevered after Adam Wainwright blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning. He struck out Eric Hosmer to start it, but the ball squirted away from catcher Yadier Molina, allowing Hosmer to reach first base. Billy Butler followed with a crisp single up the middle. Trevor Rosenthal, who took the loss Tuesday night, entered in relief and walked Alex Gordon on a full count to load the bases. Salvador Perez followed with a broken-bat groundout to score a run, and Lorenzo Cains single up the middle knotted the game 2-all. "You lose the lead and a start like that from Waino, theres a lot of teams that will roll over in that situation," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, "but the guys stepped up." The ninth-inning rally still soured a dazzling outing by Wainwright, who was trying to become the NLs first nine-game winner. The two-time All-Star did not allow a hit until the sixth inning, stranded three runners on third base and struck out eight while walking just two. "Wainwright pitched a great game. Hes an unbelievable pitcher," Cain said. "When we tied the game, I thought we had them. We tried to spoil it for him at the end." Wainwright wasnt the only Cardinal to get on track, though. Molina had hits in his first two at-bats, snapping an 0-for-16 streak. Ellis ended an 0-for-8 stretch with his single in the second that led to the games first run. Jason Vargas kept Kansas City in it most of the night. After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, he went on strand 10 in a season-high eight innings. The left-hander allowed nine hits and walked two while allowing two runs or fewer for the fifth time in six starts. "Carpenter was pretty hot," Vargas said. "It was just one of those games where youve got to grind, make pitches and kind of think your way through things." NOTES: Vargas threw a season-high 117 pitches. ... Royals RHP Greg Holland pitched a scoreless 10th, his 11th straight appearance without allowing a run. ... LHP Bruce Chen (bulging disc) said he will need at least two more rehab starts before rejoining the Royals. He allowed eight hits in three innings for Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday night. ... Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong was out of the lineup with a sore right shoulder. He pinch hit for Ellis in the 10th inning and remained in the game. ... RHP Michael Wacha starts for St. Louis in Thursdays series finale. RHP Yordano Ventura is on the mound for Kansas City. Nike Air Max 1 Ireland . Ortiz hit a pair of two-run homers, including his 400th shot in a Red Sox uniform, and drove in a career high-tying six runs to power Boston past the Houston Astros 10-7 on Saturday night. Clearance Air Max 1 Ireland . And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand. http://www.airmax1ireland.com/ . Redden played a total of 1,023 regular-season games with Ottawa, the New York Rangers, St. Louis and Boston. He finished with 457 points (109 goals, 348 assists) and a plus-160 rating over his career. Air Max 1 Wholesale Ireland . Ashley Wagner will skate in the womens short program for a U.S. team thats in seventh place. Davis and White won the silver medal at the Vancouver Games and are two-time world champions. Cheap Air Max 1 Wholesale . -- A deflected pass that landed in DeSean Jacksons hands. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- It took only one pitch Tuesday night for the Texas Rangers to take the lead in a game for the first time in more than a week. Ian Kinsler drove Jeremy Hellicksons first fastball for a home run, and the Rangers went on to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1, breaking a seven-game losing streak. "Obviously weve been fighting from behind a lot in this last week or so," Kinsler said. "So to be able to get a first hit out of the way, and a first run out of the way, gave (Alexi) Ogando a little bit of breathing room." Elvis Andrus felt it from the on-deck circle. "I think the homer by Ian made the whole team just relax," he said. "We havent scored first in a little while." Kinsler and Andrus homered and drove in three runs each to help the Rangers pull even with the Rays at the top of the AL wild-card race. The Rangers, who held the No. 1 wild-card spot or the AL West lead for most of the summer, won for only the fourth time in 17 games. "Given the circumstances, its a big win," Kinsler said. "Youve got to have a sense of relief when you lose seven in a row and you know youre a better team than that," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. Kinslers 12th home run broke a streak of seven homerless games for the Rangers, their longest in 23 years. The 1-0 lead marked the first time Texas has led in a game since its last victory, on Sept. 8. Kinsler added a two-run single in the Rangers four-run third, driving in three runs on the first two pitches he saw from Helickson (11-9). Andrus followed with his third home run of the season to put the Rangers up 5-0. "The first pitch of the game was not a good fastball," Hellickson said. "Then I settled down a bit, but in the third I walked the leadofff guy (Mitch Moreland) and you cant do that against a lineup like that.dddddddddddd" Ogando (7-4) won in his first start since Aug. 13, giving up two hits in five innings. He had made four relief appearances after spending three weeks on the disabled list with shoulder inflammation. Ogando retired the first seven Rays he faced, the last four with strikeouts, before Jose Lobaton homered in the third inning. Washington said after the game that Ogando will start Sunday at Kansas City. "Ogando went out there and did way beyond the call of duty, and I think he deserves a lot of credit," Washington said. "We werent expecting five (innings). I was hoping he could go deep, but he gave us five quality innings." Leonys Martin doubled twice and added a ninth-inning home run, his eighth of the season. Rookie Wil Myers had two of Tampa Bays four hits. Hellickson, who is 1-6 in his last nine starts, gave up five earned runs in 2 2-3 innings. NOTES: Kinsler has led off 29 games with a home run, two this season. ... Rangers OF Nelson Cruz, who is suspended for the rest of the regular season, began workouts at the teams training facility in Arizona. ... The Rangers 43-33 road record is the best in the majors. ... The Rays promoted 32-year-old outfielder Freddy Guzman and added him to the active roster. Guzman has played in 47 major league games, most recently in 2009 with the New York Yankees. ... . RHP Jesse Crain, who has been on the DL with a right shoulder strain since the Rays acquired him from the Chicago White Sox on July 29, could be activated as early as Wednesday. ... The Rays announced a renewal of their relationship with Montgomery, their Double-A affiliate. They will play an exhibition game on March 29 at Montgomerys Riverwalk Stadium. ' ' '