SAN FRANCISCO When a dominant pitcher with a history of injuries appears to hit a wall late in the season for a contending team, it tends to raise alarm bells.
Michael Wacha silenced those concerns Thursday night.
Wacha pitched six strong innings and Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2.
The Giants were without staff ace Madison Bumgarner, a late scratch with flu symptoms, as they lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Wacha (10-7) gave up one run, four hits and two walks as he bounced back from a tough stretch. In his three previous starts he was 0-3 with a 10.22 ERA.
Tommy Pham was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs for St. Louis.
The Cardinals broke a scoreless tie in the top of the second when Grichuk hit a two-run homer off Giants starter Matt Cain (3-11).
Cain gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings after a disastrous outing in his last game. He gave eight runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
Grichuks 18th home run came on a 1-2 curveball Cain hung over the middle of the plate.
Five Cardinals relievers combined to allow one run over the final three innings with Seung Hwan Oh getting his 20th save.
The punchless Giants were coming off a 1-5 trip in which they scored 10 runs.
Game two of the four-game series is Friday night. Rookie John Flaherty (0-0) will start for the Cardinals while Johnny Cueto (6-7) goes for the Giants. Game time is 9:15 with the pre-game at 8:20 on KTLO-AM.
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