Lohse stifles Indians in Cardinals' 2-0 win

ST. LOUIS -- Carlos Beltran would prefer to hit in one spot every day. There's no arguing the results no matter where he lands on the lineup card.

Beltran, primarily the St. Louis Cardinals' cleanup man, provided some pop batting second in a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Saturday night. Beltran hit his National League-leading 17th home run in support of Kyle Lohse, who allowed three hits over 7 2/3 innings to outduel Justin Masterson.

"I felt in control," Lohse said. "I felt like I was getting pretty quick outs. If I'm doing those things, keeping the ball on the ground, that's my plan."

Beltran has batted cleanup 31 times, third three times and second 18 times. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny resisted the temptation to shift Beltran back to cleanup after Matt Holliday was scratched just before the first pitch with mid-back spasms.

Beltran, who has homered nine times batting second, also leads the Cardinals with 45 RBIs.

Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse delivers during the second inning Saturday in St. Louis.

"For me, honestly this year has been more difficult than any year," Beltran said. "As a player, I like to come to the ballpark and just know I'm going to hit in one spot and just be there."

Michael Brantley had two singles to extend his hitting streak to 17 games for Cleveland. But the Indians had only three runners in scoring position against Lohse (6-1), who ended a string of five starts with no decisions and a 5.16 ERA, and two relievers.

Beltran homered with two outs in the third and had three of the seven hits for St. Louis, which has won three of four. Shane Robinson doubled to start the eighth and scored on Rafael Furcal's one-out sacrifice fly against Jeremy Accardo.

The game took just 2 hours, 14 minutes, the fastest of the season for both teams. It was the first time the Indians were shut out, leaving only the Tigers who have yet to be blanked.

Indians manager Manny Acta put his thumbs up in celebration.

"Step in the right direction, that's great," Acta said. "It took over two something months for us to get shut out. They've been battling. It had to happen."

Masterson (2-6) struck out six with no walks while giving up five hits over seven innings, but he fell to 1-4 in his last seven starts. He retired the side in order in three of his last four innings. He walked none.

Indians pitchers totaled one walk, an intentional pass from Accardo to Yadier Molina in the eighth that also represented the lone three-ball count against a St. Louis hitter.

"We were right there," Masterson said. "A little slider that was just hanging up to Beltran. Besides that I was happy with the way things went."

Lohse moved a game above .500 at 108-107 with his first win over the Indians since 2004, when he worked an inning of relief in a 12-inning game. The outing was his longest of the season, one out longer than on opening day when he won at Miami.