Offense sputters vs. Arizona's Haren

PHOENIX -- Dan Haren told teammate Mark Reynolds before the game that "he had it tonight."

Then the Arizona right-hander went out and proved it against one of the best-hitting teams in baseball, striking out nine without a walk in the Diamondbacks' 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.

"He's tough," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said, "made us look foolish a lot. He's got nasty stuff."

Haren (7-4) gave up two runs on six hits to improve to 4-0 in four career starts against the Cardinals, the first team he pitched for in the majors back in 2003 and 2004.

"There's a handful of games every year where you've got everything working, where you've got all your pitches and feel good," Haren said, "and this was one of them."

Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa takes the ball from starting pitcher Adam Ottavino during the fourth inning Saturday in Phoenix. (MATT YORK ~ Associated Press)

He faced just one three-ball count and threw first-pitch strikes to 25 of 30 batters in a game that lasted just 2 hours, 28 minutes. Pitching on his own bobblehead night, Haren also singled twice in three at-bats to boost his batting average to .425.

"I hope this is a sign of many of these to come because he can get locked in and stay that way for a while," Arizona manager A.J. Hinch said.

Adam LaRoche had two of the Diamondbacks' four solo home runs. Reynolds had three hits, including an RBI double and his 15th home run of the season. Chris Snyder also homered for Arizona. Colby Rasmus had a solo home run for St. Louis.

Three of Arizona's homers came against Adam Ottavino (0-2), making his third major league start. Ottavino lasted just 3 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits.

"He had too many balls in the hot zone, the middle of the plate," La Russa said. "He gave them a lot of pitches to hit and they got 'em."

Haren retired the first 12 batters, four on strikeouts, before Matt Holliday doubled down the left-field line to lead off the fifth. Ryan Ludwick followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 6-1.

The Cardinals went on to load the bases with one out on singles by Yadier Molina and Brendan Ryan. Haren, though, got pinch-hitter Felipe Lopez and David Freese to pop out to end the inning.

"If you don't take advantage of him and let him feel comfortable out there, he's going to get comfortable and pitch seven, eight, nine innings, and that's what happened," said Albert Pujols, who was 0 for 3 and struck out once.

Rasmus led off the sixth with a home run. Haren retired the next eight before Rasmus singled with one out in the eighth.

In the first, Stephen Drew drew a two-out walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, then scored when Reynolds doubled.