St. Louis ? If David Eckstein keeps hitting like this, the Cardinals won’t miss Scott Rolen very much.

Eckstein set the table for another St. Louis victory with three hits, helping the Cardinals beat Derek Lowe and the sloppy Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-3, Thursday.

The scrappy shortstop singled, doubled and tripled to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He finished the four-game series 11-for-16.

“Yeah, I had a good series, but we’ve got another game tomorrow,” Eckstein said. “One at-bat feeds into the next one. Just getting to where you feel comfortable and taking good swings, that’s the key.”

Eckstein wasn’t the only one to step up in Rolen’s absence after the all-star third baseman went on the 15-day disabled list because of a sprained left shoulder. Chris Carpenter (5-2) struck out eight in seven innings, Yadier Molina had three hits in his first start since spraining his left ankle last weekend, and John Mabry hit a two-run double in his second game since replacing Rolen at third.

The ensemble performance made up for an off day by Albert Pujols. The slugger was 0-for-5 and failed to reach base by a hit or walk for the first time in 43 games dating to last season. He struck out three times for the first time this season. After striking out seven times in his first 26 games, he has fanned six times in the last eight.

St. Louis, which completed a 4-4 homestand, beat the Dodgers at home for the eighth time in nine games dating to the playoffs last fall.

Milton Bradley homered in the second inning, and Paul Bako and Lowe had RBI singles for the Dodgers.

Lowe (2-4), who won the final game in each playoff series last year to help the Boston Red Sox win their first World Series title since 1918, allowed six runs, but just two of them were earned. He gave up 10 hits in five innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter is greeted by teammates after finishing seven innings against Los Angeles. The Cardinals defeated the Dodgers, 10-3, Thursday in St. Louis.

In Lowe’s first regular-season appearance against the Cardinals, Los Angeles had two errors and a passed ball in a five-run third inning that included four unearned runs.

Second baseman Oscar Robles missed the bag on what would have been an easy forceout on Pujols with two outs, allowing a run to score. Pujols then scored from first when right fielder J.D. Drew’s relay to the plate went to the backstop on Jim Edmonds’ run-scoring single, and Edmonds scored on a passed ball, a pitch that just missed hitting Reggie Sanders.

“I don’t like to make excuses, but I really feel that two-out play at second base was obviously a huge turning point in this game,” Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. “I think the situation snowballed after the call.”

Lowe pitched seven scoreless innings in Game 4 of the World Series as Boston completed a four-game sweep of St. Louis.

Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 3

Denver — Jose Cruz Jr. hit two solo homers, lifting Arizona over Colorado. Cruz hit his first homer in the seventh inning off Shawn Chacon (1-3) for a 3-1 lead, then another in the ninth off reliever David Cortes to make it 4-2. They were the third and fourth home runs of the season for Cruz, and this was the 12th multi-homer game of his career. Two batters after Cruz, Tony Clark hit a two-run homer to add to Arizona’s lead. Arizona starter Russ Ortiz (3-2) allowed eight hits and two runs over six-plus innings of a tight battle with Chacon.

Giants 6, Astros 3

Houston — Mike Matheny singled in the tying run, and Houston outfielder Lance Berkman’s error on the play allowed the go-ahead run to score.

With the Giants trailing 3-2 in the sixth inning, Matheny, who was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, hit a bases-loaded single to left that Berkman misplayed for an error, allowing Edgardo Alfonzo to score to make it 4-3.

Giants starter Brad Hennessey (2-0), recalled Thursday from Triple-A Fresno, allowed three runs on six hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked three. Tyler Walker pitched the ninth for his second save in three chances.

Craig Biggio hit two home runs, and Morgan Ensberg also connected for the Astros. Ensberg also had two of Houston’s season-high four errors.

The Astros have lost three straight and nine of 10 to fall to 12-22.

Reds 7, Phillies 5

Philadelphia — Adam Dunn homered in consecutive at-bats and tied his career high with five RBIs, leading Cincinnati over Philadelphia. Dunn hit a two-run shot in the fifth inning and a tiebreaking three-run drive off Jon Lieber (5-2) in the sixth for his third multihomer game of the season.

Ken Griffey Jr. also homered and had three hits for the Reds, who won for just the third time in 14 games.