ST. LOUIS (AP) - Cliff Lee threw a six-hitter for his second straight shutout and the Philadelphia Phillies got homers from Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard in the fourth inning of a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.
The Cardinals have totaled two runs on 11 hits in their first two games without injured Albert Pujols, expected to miss six weeks with a fractured left wrist. It didn't help that they've faced two of the game's best, with Roy Halladay giving up four hits in six innings on Tuesday.
Kyle Lohse (7-4) worked eight innings to match his season best, allowing three runs on seven hits with no walks or strikeouts. He struggled only in the fourth when Rollins led off with his seventh homer and Howard hit a two-run shot and his 16th overall with one out following a single by Chase Utley.
Utley added an eighth-inning sacrifice fly for the NL East-leading Phillies, who've won 10 of 12 and will go for a three-game sweep on Thursday with Roy Oswalt facing Chris Carpenter.
Howard, who is from suburban St. Louis, also singled and is a career .374 hitter with nine homers and 34 RBIs in 25 games at Busch Stadium. Both are highs for visiting players at the 6-year-old ballpark and the homer broke a tie with Adam Dunn and Prince Fielder.
Lee (8-5) has won all four of his starts this month, allowing only one run in 33 innings while lowering his ERA from 3.94 to 2.87. The 2008 AL Cy Young winner followed a two-hitter over Florida earlier with his eighth career shutout and has a 23-inning scoreless streak.
Lee retired 11 in a row between the third and seventh. Only Lohse reached third base after hitting a leadoff double in the third.
Lee is 6-1 since losing 3-1 at St. Louis on May 16 in which he walked a career-high six in 6 1-3 innings. He opened this game with seven straight balls before settling in, and made a nice leaping stab on Pete Kozma's grounder up the middle to help keep the Cardinals off the board in the third.
NOTES: Both Howard and Rollins have four homers this month. ... The Phillies' 10-2 victory Tuesday was only the franchise's second the last 66 years scoring double-digit runs without an extra-base hit. The other time was on Sept. 17, 2005 at Florida. ... Howard is 7 for 16 with two homers and eight RBIs against Lohse. ... Utley has 12 RBIs in the last 10 games.