MLB: St. Louis 9, Arizona 4

PHOENIX, April 22 (UPI) -- Colby Rasmus touched off a five-run ninth with a go-ahead, solo homer Wednesday, launching the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-4 victory over Arizona.

Arizona scored twice in the eighth to tie it at 4-4, but Rasmus hit his second home run of the game on a 1-2 pitch to lead off the ninth against Chad Qualls (0-1).

The Cardinals wound up sending eight men to the plate in that inning and got an RBI double from Brendan Ryan and a three-run homer from Skip Schumaker.

Rasmus hit a two-run blast in a three-run first.

Jason Motte (1-1) collected the victory by recording the final two outs in the eighth inning. St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter struck out 10 over seven innings.