ST. LOUIS -- Adam Wainwright decided to use a simple approach to break out of his two-game slump. The St. Louis right-hander bounced back from back-to-back sub-par outings with seven shutout innings and David Freese homered to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night. The victory moved the Cardinals into first place, a half-game ahead of the Pirates in the NL Central. Pittsburgh has lost four of six including the first two of the three-game set. The Pirates remain stuck on 81 wins, one shy of assuring them a winning record for the first time since they went 96-66 in 1992. Wainwright (16-9) had given up 15 earned runs over his previous two starts, both against Cincinnati. He allowed a career-high nine runs in two innings of a 10-0 loss Aug. 28. But he regained his form against the Pirates allowing just two hits. He struck out eight and walked two. "The way to make pitching as simple as possible is to repeat your delivery and execute your pitches," he said. "My stuff tonight was drastically different because of that." Wainwright, who retired the last 11 batters and ended his performance with four successive strikeouts, is tied with Jordan Zimmermann of Washington and Jorge De La Rosa of Colorado for the most wins in the NL. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was pleased to see his ace return to form. "Thats the same guy we expect to see every time out," he said. "He had it all working." Wainwright fashioned a 16.88 ERA in his two previous starts. "This time he was aggressive," catcher Yadier Molina said. "This is a long season and everyone is going to have slumps. Hes a tough guy. Hes going to battle." Wainwright threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 24 batters. He gave up a single to Andrew McCutchen in the first and a double in the fourth. Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle was not surprised to see Wainwright bounce back. "He was down in the zone all night, he wore it out," Hurdle said. "He did what hes done for years." Freese drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who moved into sole possession of first place for the first time since Aug. 29. Matt Holliday, Pete Kozma and Daniel Descalso also added RBIs. "Weve been back-and-forth with them all year," Wainwright said. "Any time you can win against them, its a big win." Freese homered off reliever Jeanmar Gomez in the sixth to push the lead to 4-0. Pittsburgh left-hander Jeff Locke (9-5) allowed three runs on three hits over five innings. He was making his first start since Aug. 27. Locke was sent down to Double-A Altoona to clear his mind, but he did not make an appearance. "I felt refreshed, like I was re-charged," Locke said. Molina started a two-run outburst in the fourth inning with a double that followed a leadoff walk to Carlos Beltran. Freese then brought in Beltran with a sacrifice fly to left. Kozma added an infield single to bring in Molina., The Pirates are 9-9 over their last 18 games and they remain confident. "We need to step it up, to get going again," McCutchen said. "Weve just got to keep battling." Notes: RHP Michael Wacha (2-0, 3.20) will face Charlie Morton (7-3, 3.00) in the final game of the three-game series on Sunday. ... Pittsburgh has hit an NL-leading 79 home runs on the road. ... The Pirates have out-homered St. Louis 19-5 in the 18 games between the teams this season. ... St. Louis had nine successive hits in a seven-run seventh inning during Fridays 12-8 win. The nine in a row is the most by any team in the majors this season. Vi... Wilfork Jersey .ca Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen and NFL Editors Mitch Ward and Ben Fisher discuss three hot fantasy football topics. Ryan Allen Jersey . Top Picks: With 128 points over the last two seasons, John Tavares ranks sixth, and hes the one driving the Islanders offence. 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CATHARINES, Ont. -- The Niagara IceDogs scored all five goals in the third period en route to a 5-2 win over the Belleville Bulls in Ontario Hockey League play Tuesday. Brendan Perlini got the tying goal, and later added his 23rd of the season on the power play to make it 4-2 for Niagara (12-21-4), while Mitchell Fitzmorris, Matt Gillard and Billy Jenkins also scored. Remi Elie opened the scoring for Belleville (10-23-4) with a power-play goal in the second period. Andrew Mings goal in the second got the Bulls to within 3-2. Brent Moran made 20 saves for Niagara, while Charlie Graham turned back 37 for the Bulls. Jason Da Silva saw just over three minutes of action in the Belleville net and stopped the only shot that went his way. --- FRONTENACS 3 STEELHEADS 2 MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Ryan Kujawinski scored twice, including the tying goal, and Spencer Watson got the winner as Kingston rallied to beat the Steelheads. Mississauga (15-20-4) opened a 2-0 lead with a first-period goal from Bryson Cianfrone, and another at 2:24 of the second period from Nathan Bastian. Kujanwinski got the Frontenacs (20-12-4) on the scoreboard exactly one minute later, and he got the tying goal on the power play at 19:12 of the second period. Watson scored the winner at 3:46 of the third period. Both goaltenders shined, with Spencer Martin making 43 saves for Mississauga, and Lucas Peressini 39 for Kingston. --- WOLVES 2 BATTALION 1 (SO) SUDBURY, Ont. -- Franky Palazzese made 41 saves, with seven of them coming in overtime, to lead the Wolves to their win over North Bay. Mathew Campagna was the only player to score in the shootout. Ray Huether opened the scoring for Sudbury (20-10-6) with a power-play goal at 14:12 of the first period, and Mike Amadio tied it for the Battalion (18-16-3) at 11:35 of the third period. Brendan ONeil made 23 saves for North Bay. --- GREYHOUNDS 6 SPIRIT 5 SAGINAW, Mich. -- Andrew Fritsch scored the winner at 13:01 of the third period as Sault Ste. Marie unleashed a 51-shot attack to beat the Spirit. David Miller got the equalizer for the Greyhounds (26-8-4), who won their third in a row. Tyler Gaudet scored twice for Sault Ste. Marie, with Zachary Senyshyn and Kevin Spinozzi rounding out the scoring.dddddddddddd Eric Locke, Kristoff Kontos, Justin Sefton, Terry Trafford and Jeremiah Addison replied for the Spirit (16-17-5), who dropped their sixth in a row. Nikita Serebryakov stopped 45 shots for the Spirit, while Matt Murray handled 21 shots for the Soo. --- SPITFIRES 5 WHALERS 1 WINDSOR, Ont. -- The Spitfires took a 4-0 lead over Plymouth into the third period en route to their fourth win in a row. Ben Johnson scored in the first period, and Remy Giftopoulos, Steven Janes and Nikita Yazkov connected in the second for Windsor (24-12-1). Whalers defenceman Mathieu Henderson ruined Dalen Kuchmeys shutout bid with a power-play goal at 3:53 of the third period. Sam Povorozniouk completed the scoring with an empty netter. Kuchmey finished 25 saves, while Zack Bowman also handed 25 for Plymouth (13-20-4). --- KNIGHTS 6 STING 3 LONDON, Ont. -- Max Domi and Matt Rupert each scored twice to lead the Knights to their win over Sarnia. Domis second goal, into an empty net, was his 20th of the season. Alex Basso and Kyle Platzer also scored for London (26-7-4), which led 4-3 after two periods. Nikita Korostelev scored twice for the Sting (12-21-4), and Nickolas Latta added his 22nd of the season. Taylor Dupuis stopped 37 shots for Sarnia, and Londons Jake Patterson turned back 31. --- OTTERS 4 RANGERS 0 ERIE, Pa. -- Devin Williams made 22 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the league-leading Otters snapped a three-game losing streak. Jake Evans scored in the first period, Connor Brown got his 24th of the season in the second, and Dane Fox followed in the period with his league leading 42nd for Erie (30-7-1). Patrick Murphy closed the scoring in the third period. Jordan DeKort made 22 saves for Kitchener (13-22-1). --- STORM 4 COLTS 1 BARRIE, Ont. -- Justin Nichols turned aside 34 shots as Guelph breezed past the Colts. Robby Fabbri, Nick Ebert, Jason Dickinson and Justin Auger each scored for the Storm (27-7-3). Zach Halls second-period goal was the lone offence Barrie (19-15-3) managed against Guelph. Colts goalies Mackenzie Blackwood and Daniel Gibl combined for 34 saves. cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '