Lankford Leads Cards Past L.A.

Ray Lankford is healthy again, and so is the St. Louis Cardinals' offense.

Lankford hit two homers Sunday, including a two-run shot in the ninth that gave the Cardinals a 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It was the 10th multihomer game for Lankford, who was limited to spot duty early in the season following knee surgery,

"It can't get any better than that, except maybe hitting one in the World Series," he said. "Other than that, this is the best."

"You can't think about giving up runs in a situation like that," said Mike Mohler, who relieved starter Juan Acevedo with one on and no out in the second. "You just have to get outs and that's what we did."

Los Angeles manager Davey Johnson kept waiting for his team to deliver the knockout blow.

"It was a rough day for me and it didn't get any better in the ninth," Johnson said.

Mark McGwire walked with one out in the ninth off Jeff Shaw (1-1). Lankford, who had hit a solo homer in the sixth, then hit his fifth homer of the season into the bleachers in right-center.

"As soon as I hit it, I had a feeling I got it pretty good," Lankford said. "Watching the center fielder

Shaw also knew he was in trouble.

"When he first hit it, I thought it was off the wall," Shaw said. "My game plan is to come right after the hitters. Either I'm going to beat you or you are going to beat me. Today, Ray beat me."

Mohler, Manny Aybar, Rick Croushore and Ricky Bottalico (1-0) combined to hold the Dodgers scoreless over the final seven innings.

Shaw's first blown save in 10 chances prevented Ismael Valdes from becoming the Dodgers' first five-game winner. Valdes allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings.

"Our bullpen held it together most of the day," Johnson said. "They kept them from scoring until th ninth."

Juan Acevedo, who began the season as the Cardinals' closer, made his first start since July 17, 1998. Acevedo, who had a 11.74 ERA over his last six relief appearances, gave up four runs and five hits in two-plus innings.

"It's a long road still," said Acevedo. "I'm still very optimistic. It takes a lot to get Juan Acevedo down."

With the score tied at 1, the Dodgers scored three runs in the second on an RBI single by Jose Vizcaino a fielder's choice by Valdes and a sacrifice fly by Eric Young.

Renteria hit his first home run for St. Louis with one out in the third and Lankford first homer of the game made it 4-3.

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the first when Todd Hollandsworth tripled and scored on Gary Sheffield's sacrifice fly. Valdes gave that run back in the bottom of the inning with a wild pitch that allowed Darren Bragg to score.

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