Ponson Makes His Pitch for Cardinals

Sidney Ponson won his third start in a row and Jim Edmonds gave him a quick cushion with a three-run homer in the first inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.

The Cardinals are 10-3 at new Busch Stadium, all of the games sellouts.

Scott Spiezio hit a two-run double in the seventh off Gary Majewski after the lead had been shaved to one for the Cardinals, who have won seven of eight.

Spiezio, the former Angel who made his third consecutive start at third base in place of ailing Scott Rolen, also tripled in the first and is five for 11 with a homer and four runs batted in as the fill-in.

A strong major league debut by Mike O’Connor, who yielded three unearned runs and three hits in five innings subbing for John Patterson, could not prevent the Nationals from losing their fifth in a row. Patterson skipped his turn because of a strained muscle in his right forearm.

Edmonds’ fourth homer was the only damage against O’Connor, whose contract was purchased from triple-A New Orleans earlier in the day.

Ponson had a week between his previous two starts because of days off and Manager Tony La Russa’s desire to leave Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder on regular rest, and control problems limited him to a total of 11 1/3 innings. The Nationals saw Ponson (3-0) on his fifth day and he was considerably sharper, holding them to three hits in six scoreless innings.

Colorado 6, Philadelphia 3 -- Garrett Atkins hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning to help the Rockies beat the Phillies and improve to 7-3 on the road.

Aaron Cook (2-3) pitched seven strong innings. He yielded three runs -- two earned -- and six hits. Ray King and Jose Mesa combined for a scoreless eighth and Brian Fuentes finished for his fourth save, extending his franchise record to 22 straight.