Adam Wainwright powers St. Louis Cardinals past Colorado Rockies

DENVER -- Adam Wainwright, who turned 35 three weeks ago, has shown his age this season.

He wasn't at his best, by any means, Tuesday night, but Wainwright more than made up for any mound shortcomings with his bat.

His career-high four RBI helped the Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 10-5, spoiling the final start of the season for Jorge De La Rosa and most likely his last in a nine-season run with the Rockies.

The Cardinals' fourth straight win tied them with the New York Mets for the top wild-card spot in the National League. The San Francisco Giants trailed those teams by a half-game, pending the outcome of their late game with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Wainwright doubled home two runs in the third off De La Rosa and singled home two runs in the fifth off Eddie Butler. Ten of Wainwright's 13 hits this season have gone for extra bases -- seven doubles, one triple and two homers.

Wainwright (12-9) worked 5 1/3 innings, the third time in four starts he failed to reach the sixth.

Wainwright has a 4.57 ERA this season, but he has had the upper hand against the Rockies. He's 9-1 with a 1.70 ERA against them in 14 games (10 starts). At Coors Field, he is 3-0 with a 2.73 ERA in five games (four starts).

Matt Adams and Jedd Gyorko hit homers against De La Rosa (8-9), who gave up seven hits and eight runs (seven earned) in 4 2/3 innings. He threw 98 pitches, 35 in the three-run second when the Cardinals batted around with three hits and De La Rosa hit two batters and walked another.

Randal Grichuck scored a career-high four runs for the Cardinals, who improved to 4-2 on their 10-game trip.

Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu went 1-for-3 and extended his career-high on-base streak to 36 games. At .349, LeMahieu stayed atop the NL in batting, two points ahead of Washington's Daniel Murphy.

Wainwright recorded a two-run double in the second and a two-run single in the fifth -- both three-run innings for the Cardinals as they built an 8-3 lead.

De La Rosa gave up a run-scoring single to Grichuck in the fifth on his 98th and final pitch and was charged with two more runs when Eddie Butler surrendered a two-run single to Wainwright that put the Cardinals ahead 8-2.

Wainwright gave up a homers to Blackmon in the fifth -- his 28th of the season, off the right-field foul pole -- and Descalso in the fourth, his eighth of the season.

Wainwright also gave up a run in the first on Dahl's two-out single that scored Blackmon, who led off with a walk.

For the fourth straight start, De La Rosa allowed at least five runs. The Cardinals crossed that threshold in the fourth when Gyorko belted a two-run homer, driving De La Rosa's 3-0 fastball 452 feet to straightaway center. It was Gyorko's 27th homer and scored Grichuk, who had led off with a walk.

The Cardinals batted around and scored three runs in the second to take a 3-1 lead when De La Rosa threw 35 pitches and left the bases loaded by striking out Brandon Moss.

Matt Adams led off and tied the game at 1 in the second with his 15th homer, a 436-foot shot into the second deck in right-center. De La Rosa hit Jhonny Peralta with a pitch, Grichuk doubled and Wainwright lined a first-pitch two-run double to center.

NOTES: Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu extended his career-high on-base streak to 36 games. ... Colorado manager Walt Weiss said he would like to give INF Pat Valaika and OF/1B Jordan Patterson a couple starts. Both players were recalled earlier this month from Triple-A Albuquerque and have appeared in, but not started any games. ... Cardinals SS Aledmys Diaz was not in the lineup. He's been back less than two weeks from a fractured right thumb and is not consistently able to throw at full strength. ... Cardinals LF Matt Holliday (fractured right thumb) took batting practice for the second straight day and could face live pitching as soon as Thursday. ... The Cardinals' bullpen entered the game having thrown 11 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings in the previous four games.