ST. LOUIS — Jake Westbrook allowed one earned run in seven strong innings and rookie Matt Carpenter homered, tripled and drove in five runs in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 10-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

Cubs starter Paul Maholm (0-2) surrendered six runs in four innings. The left-hander is 0-7 with a 7.03 ERA in nine starts since his last win on July 10, 2011 against the Cubs when he was with Pittsburgh.

Carpenter has been getting regular duty while Lance Berkman recovers from a strained left calf and is batting .409 with 10 RBIs in 22 at-bats. He singled his first two trips with an RBI, belted a two-run shot to straightaway center off Lendy Castillo in the fifth for his first career homer and added a two-run triple off Rodrigo Lopez in the seventh.

Berkman missed the weekend series but could be back Tuesday when the Cardinals open a three-game series against the Reds.

Yadeir Molina hit a three-run homer in the third and has six RBIs the last three games. Plus he threw out Marlon Byrd attempting to steal in the third.

Westbrook (2-0) dropped 20 pounds in the offseason after a disappointing 2011 in which he went 12-9 but with a 4.66 ERA and was virtually unused in the Cardinals’ World Series championship run. He pounded his sinker for 12 ground ball outs, and allowed four hits.

Reed Johnson had two hits and an RBI for the Cubs, who scored their second run on a wild pitch. They were outscored 15-4 the last two games after hammering Adam Wainwright in St. Louis’ home opener for a 9-5 victory.

Westbrook allowed an unearned run in seven innings in his first start at Cincinnati. He’s gotten plenty of support, with St. Louis scoring 17 runs his first two outings.

The Cardinals needed one hit to score twice in the second, with Carlos Beltran hit by a pitch and Molina walking setting the table to start the inning. Carpenter followed with an RBI single and Shane Robinson beat out the relay on a double play ball for a run-scoring groundout.

Rafael Furcal had been 0-for-12 before doubling to start a four-run third capped by Molina’s homer.

The Cardinals are 12-6 against the Cubs the last two seasons and 8-2 at home.

Notes: The Cubs had been 8-for-10 on steals before Byrd was thrown out. … Westbrook threw first-pitch strikes to nine of his first 11 batters. … Two members of the Cubs rotation have no wins since July 10, 2011, with Chris Volstad 0-6 with a 4.17 ERA since beating the Astros. … Beltran is batting .429 (9-for-21) with two homers and six RBIs against Maholm.

The St. Louis Cardinals have won seven of their first ten games to start the 2012 season, downing the Chicago Cubs 10-3 Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

Former Springfield Cardinal Matt Carpenter, who’s been filling in at first base for the injured Lance Berkman, went 4-4 at the plate, with two singles, a triple and his first major league home run. He had five RBI.

St. Louis starting pitcher Jake Westbroook (2-0) was solid, allowing only two runs on four hits in seven innings to get the win. Chicago starter Paul Maholm (0-2) took the loss, giving up six runs on six hits in four innings.

The Cardinals got on the board in the bottom of the 2nd when Carlos Beltran was hit by a pitch. Yadier Molina then walked, and Carpenter came through with asingle up the middle, driving in Beltran. Shane Robinson, getting the start in centerfield, grounded into a force out, putting the Cardinals ahead 2-0.

St. Louis added four runs in the 3rd as leftfielder Matt Holliday’s single through the hole at second base plated Rafael Furcal to make it 3-0. Molina brought the crowd to its feet with a three run homer to left field. It was his third long ball of the season and gave the Cards a commanding 6-0 lead.

After the Cubs put up single runs in the 4th and 5th to pull within a 6-2 score, the Cardinals got both of those runs back in the bottom of the 5th on Carpenter’s two run blast to center field that made it 8-2.

Carpenter wasn’t finished. He tripled in two runs in the 7th inning, putting St. Louis way ahead 10-3 before Chicago scored its last run of the game in the 8th on shortstop Starlin Castro’s RBI infield single against Cards reliever Kyle McClellan.

Victor Marte worked a scoreless 9th inning for St. Louis to close out the win.

St. Louis Manager Mike Matheny was all smiles when asked about Carpenter’s day. “I’d say a great day for Matt Carpenter,” Matheny said. “It was nice to see him continue to do what he’s doing. Opportunity presents itself, not always how we want to with Lance being held up for a little while. When that happens, somebody’s going to have to step up, and I’d say Matt did a pretty good job of that today.”

And what happens to Carpenter, who’s hitting .409 to start the season, when Berkman returns? “We’ll see,” Matheny said. “Lance is our first baseman, we know that. Those things seem to work out, where he’s (Carpenter) going to continue to get the opportunities whenever it happens. With Lance and David both not feeling quite right, those are both two sports where Carp can fit in. Carlos (Beltran) takes a ball right off his forearm today, that’s another spot.” 

The Cardinals improve to 7-3 and will have the day off on Monday before opening a three game series against the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday night at Busch Stadium. Kyle Lohse (2-0) is scheduled to take the mound for St. Louis against Johnny Cueto (1-0) of the Reds. First pitch is 7:15 p.m.

Game notes: 

Prior to Matt Carpenter’s performance in Sunday’s game, the last Cardinal rookie to record 5 RBI in a game was David Freese, who had six runs driven in on 4/29/10 against Atlanta.

Yadier Molina’s three run home run gave him 400 RBI for his career.

Skip Schumaker was 0-2 with a walk in his rahab start at Memphis (AAA) on Sunday.

The Cardinals are hopeful of having both David Freese and Lance Berkman back by Tuesday’s game against Cincinnati.

On Sunday, the Cardinals and all of Major League Baseball marked the 65th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier. All players for both the Cardinals and Cubs wore uniform #42. It made for some challenging moments for broadcasters and the official scorer trying to keep track of substitutions.

Sunday’s announced attendance of 44,952 marked the third straight sellout at Busch Stadium to start the 2012 season.

Cardinals 3, Reds 1

CINCINNATI — Carlos Beltran and David Freese got their third home runs of the season Tuesday night, and Kyle Lohse provided another stingy pitching performance, as St. Louis made it two straight over the Cincinnati Reds with a 3-1 decision.

The Cardinals are off to a 5-1 start for the first time since 2008.

“If those guys keep doing that, we’re going to have a pretty good club,” first-year manager Mike Matheny said.

Beltran got a solo homer against Mike Leake (0-1) in the first inning. Moments after a Lance Berkman triple, Freese added a two-run shot off Leake in the sixth, giving him 10 RBI on the season.

St. Louis has hit 11 homers, including five in two games at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park.

Lohse (2-0) took a no-hitter into the eighth on opening day in sunny Miami on his way to a 4-1 victory.

With temperatures in the 40s on Tuesday night, he was in control again, allowing Joey Votto’s sixth-inning RBI sacrifice fly and four hits in six innings. Former Collierville and Ole Miss star Zack Cozart led off the inning with a triple, his second of the season, and scored on Votto’s fly out.

Despite the blustery conditions, at night’s end, the Cardinal starters had an ERA of 1.86.

“You’re not going to get the same feel of the ball,” Lohse said.

Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte retired the last nine Reds, Motte getting his second save.

“We’re going to win a ton of games when our starters are doing that.” Freese said.

Brandon Phillips, who earlier in the day signed a new six-year $72.5 million contract, remained out with a hamstring injury suffered Monday. He is expected to miss several days.

Leake escaped another big Cardinals first inning by getting Yadier Molina to ground into a bases-loaded double play.

“It’s still a difficult lineup,” Leake said after the loss. “They lost a big name, but they’re still a threat.”

Berkman left the game in the eighth, his left calf tightening after running out his triple.

National League

Braves 6, Astros 4 at Houston: Chipper Jones, taken off the disabled list earlier in the day, belted a two-run homer, rookie Tyler Pastornicky added a solo shot and Atlanta got its first win in five starts, snapping Houston’s three-game win streak. Former Memphis Tiger Dan Uggla broke out of a hitting funk with two hits, including a double.

Brewers 7, Cubs 4 at Chicago: Milwaukee lit up Cubs and former Germantown lefty Paul Maholm (0-1) for six runs in the first four innings, including Alex Gonzalez’ three-run homer in the first and a solo shot by Jonathan Lucroy.

Dodgers 2, Pirates 1 at Los Angeles: Andre Ethier, celebrating his 30th birthday, hit a tie-breaking homer with two outs in the eighth inning as Los Angeles got the win over Pittsburgh.

Nationals 6, Mets 2 at New York: Ross Detwiler (1-0) pitched five scoreless innings, Ian Desmond homered and Jayson Werth had four hits as Washington handed New York its first loss on the night it learned David Wright had suffered a broken finger.

American League

Tigers 5, Rays 2 at Detroit: Miguel Cabrera doubled and scored on Prince Fielder’s single to start a three-run eighth-inning rally in a snow shower as Detroit (4-0) beat Tampa Bay. Three of the Tigers’ wins have come in their last at-bat.

Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 3 at Toronto: Kyle Drabek won for the first time since June, Edwin Encarnacion homered and Toronto dropped Boston to 1-4.

Rangers 1, Mariners 0 at Arlington, Texas: Neftali Feliz pitched seven crisp innings in his first major league start as Texas made a second-inning RBI infield single by David Murphy stand up.

Yankees 5, Orioles 4 (12) at Baltimore: Doubles by Robinson Cano and Raul Ibanez in the 12th gave the Yankees a second straight win over Baltimore, which had the bases loaded in the ninth but couldn’t convert. Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect 12th for his first save of the season.

White Sox-Indians, ppd. at Cleveland: Rain and cold weather postponed the game. No new date has been set.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) Mark Buehrle always wants to feel good when he’s pitching. The Miami newcomer says he felt ”too good” on Friday in a 5-0 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Buehrle was tagged for five runs in 2 1-3 innings, allowing six hits and walking two. He threw 70 pitches against what could be the Cardinals‘ opening day lineup.

”That’s where I wanted to get,” Buehrle said of his pitch count, ”but not in 2 1-3 innings.”

”The ball was moving too much. I was falling behind in the count. Pretty much everything you’re not supposed to do, I did,” the left-hander said.

Buehrle signed a four-year, $58 million contract in December to add depth to the Marlins‘ rotation. He has a 9.95 ERA in two big league exhibitions.

”That’s a typical Buehrle spring training,” said Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, who knows Buehrle from their years together with the Chicago White Sox from 2004-11.

”I’m not worried about him. He knows what he’s doing. I’ve seen him for so many years. As long as he is on the mound healthy (when the season starts), because you’re going to see some ugly games when he’s pitching in spring training. And it wasn’t that ugly. 5-0? That was pretty good.”

Buehrle allowed eight earned runs in five starts last spring with the White Sox before going on to post a 13-9 record with a 3.59 ERA.

Buehrle also batted Friday for the first time since June 29. He struck out looking with the bases loaded on a 3-2 pitch to end the second.

”It was a little awkward. But it was good to see some live pitching,” said Buehrle, who is 5-for-47 (.106) in his career as a hitter.

”We’ve seen a machine out here and it’s throwing at 60 miles an hour. It’s a little different than facing live pitching coming in there at 90.”

Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook tossed four shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out four.

Matt Holliday hit his first home run of the spring and is batting .500 in exhibition play.

St. Louis first baseman Lance Berkman returned to action for the first time since Sunday and doubled. He’d been out with a sore left knee.

NOTES: Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton said an MRI exam revealed swelling on his left knee. He said he wasn’t sure what caused the problem. Stanton hopes to return to action next week. He hasn’t played since March 11 when he left the game after being hit on the left wrist with a pitch. … Cardinals bullpen coach Dyer Miller has left the team to be with family after his brother was killed in an accident. Cal Eldred will be fill in as bullpen coach. … Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter has thrown off a mound for the first time in nearly two weeks. He had been limited in workouts since March 3 because of a stiff neck. ”It was a little better than I had hoped,” he said. ”I felt good. I felt strong. I’m just happy.” Carpenter threw 30 fastballs at about 75 percent of his usual strength after reporting no neck trouble following consecutive days of throwing on flat ground. If he feels well Saturday, he could try to throw off the mound again Sunday or Monday, and pitch batting practice. The Cardinals think they might have a better idea next week of when Carpenter would be ready for exhibition games.

Mar 10, 2012; Jupiter, FL. USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese (23) puts the ball in play against the Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium. The Marlins defeated the Cardinals 3-1. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-US PRESSWIRE