Cardinals streak stretches to seven

ST. LOUIS — The Cleveland Indians’ hottest pitcher helped them finally get off on the right foot.

Cliff Lee worked six strong innings to win his fourth game this month and keep his perfect interleague record intact, and Travis Hafner hit two home runs in a 10-3 victory over the sagging St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.

The win snapped a string of 10 straight losses in series openers dating to May 23.

“I didn’t even realize that, to be honest with you,” Lee said. “I just wanted to go out there and pitch my game and go with the scouting report we had on the guys.”

Jhonny Peralta hit a tiebreaking two-run triple in the fifth for the Indians, who also got home runs from Grady Sizemore and Todd Hollandsworth and won for only the fourth time in 13 games. The Indians are 1-8-1 in their past 10 series, losing the past seven.

“This is a good start for us and that’s the way we’ve got to look at it,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “This will get the monkey off their back.”

The Cardinals have lost seven in a row for the first time since 2002. Manager Tony La Russa prefaced his postgame news conference with these words: “Go on, punish me. Let’s go.”

“We’re not having fun,” La Russa said. “Most of the games aren’t close. It’s a real struggle, but they’re in the book.”

Jason Marquis (9-6) was battered for the second straight start, allowing seven runs in six innings. He gave up three of the home runs and has allowed seven in his past two outings to tie for the major league lead with 19.

In the past two games, he has allowed 20 earned runs in 11 innings.

“I felt great, I had a lot of life on my ball,” Marquis said. “A couple of times, bad pitch selection, and a couple of times bad pitch location.”

Lee (7-5) gave up two runs and eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks and is 6-0 with a 3.27 ERA against the NL, including a victory over the Chicago Cubs in his last start. He’s 4-0 with a 3.09 ERA in five June starts, one of the lone bright spots for a team that’s only 8-15 this month.

“About the last month or so he’s been the Cliff we expect to see out there,” Wedge said of Lee, an 18-game winner last year. “That’s what we want to keep seeing.”

Victor Martinez added two hits and an RBI for the Indians. Hafner, who leads the team with 21 home runs, is batting .371 (13-for-35) during a nine-game hitting streak.

“He’s right up there with Pujols, one of the best hitters in baseball,” Lee said. “For him to have a game like that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Scott Rolen and So Taguchi each had three hits and an RBI for the Cardinals, who have been outscored 64-27 during an all-interleague losing streak. The NL Central leaders’ slump is their worst since July 31-Aug. 7, 2002, and they’re coming off their first winless two-city trip since 1997.

They are also 0-5 since Albert Pujols returned from an injury after going 8-7 without him.

Sizemore’s 15th homer was a two-run shot in the third for the game’s first runs. The Cardinals tied it on RBI singles by Rolen in the third and Taguchi in the fourth before the Indians took control.

Peralta’s two-run triple off the right-field wall made it 4-2 and Hafner followed with his first homer. Hollandsworth led off the sixth with his third for a 7-2 cushion and Hafner hit his second in the ninth to make it 10-3.