Cardinals outlast Giants, rain for 2-1 edge

ST. LOUIS — Matt Carpenter hit a two-run homer after subbing for an injured Carlos Beltran and the St. Louis Cardinals chased Matt Cain before a 31/2 hour rain delay in the seventh inning of a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants for a 2-1 series lead Wednesday night. Kyle Lohse worked around a season-worst five walks in 5 2-3 innings. Mitchell Boggs struck out Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt with two on to end the seventh and Jason Motte earned the first two-inning save of his career to reward what remained of a sellout crowd of 45,850, perhaps a third, that stuck around. Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro had two hits and a clean game in the field, two days after Matt Holliday rammed him breaking up a double-play ball. Manager Bruce Bochy had said there would be no retaliation, and Game 3 was collision-free.