Double plays key for Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright carried a five-hit shutout into the eighth inning and Juan Encarnacion hit a three-run home run in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night.

Wainwright (7-7) induced four inning-ending double plays for the Cardinals, who took three of four from Arizona. Jason Isringhausen also got a game-ending double-play with the bases loaded in the ninth.

The Cardinals (39-43) are four games below .500 for the first time since June 6, when their record was 26-30, and the defending World Series champions also pulled to .500 (20-20) at home.

Doug Davis (5-10) was hurt only by Encarnacion’s home run in seven innings and the left-hander, who has a .074 career average, added a rare hit. Pinch hitter Augie Ojeda’s two-run triple in the eighth off Randy Flores cut the deficit to one.

Isringhausen got Miguel Montero to ground into a double-play for his 17th save in 19 chances, sending the Diamondbacks to their fifth loss in six games.

Albert Pujols failed to homer for the 19th consecutive game, the longest drought of his career in terms of games, covering 62 at-bats. Pujols, tied for the team lead with 16 homers, went 68 at-bats without a home run in 2002.

Encarnacion broke up a scoreless game with a homer in the sixth. Ryan Ludwick doubled and Pujols walked before Encarnacion lined a 1-1 pitch from Davis over the left-field wall for his sixth of the season.

Encarnacion, who hit 19 homers last year but got a late start in 2007 due to wrist surgery, went 36 at-bats without a homer. He went 44 at-bats without a home run before hitting his fifth of the season on June 23.

Wainwright struck out four and walked three.