Haren fans nine, LaRoche homers twice as Arizona beats St. Louis 7-2

Haren, homers lead D-backs past Cardinals 7-2

PHOENIX — Dan Haren struck out nine without allowing a walk over eight innings and Adam LaRoche hit two of Arizona’s four solo home runs in the Diamondbacks’ 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night.

Haren (7-4) gave up two runs on six hits to improve to 4-0 in four career starts against the Cardinals. He faced just one three-ball count and threw first-pitch strikes to 25 of 30 batters. Pitching on his “bobblehead” night, Haren also singled twice in three at-bats to boost his season’s batting average to .425.

Mark 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.

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.

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.

Reynolds and LaRoche hit consecutive two-out home runs to almost the exact same spot in the left-center seats. Snyder homered in the fourth, then Kelly Johnson and Drew had RBI doubles.

LaRoche led off the fifth with his second home run of the night. He has homered twice in a game three times this season, accounting for six of his nine home runs.

NOTES: Arizona activated C Miguel Montero and optioned C John Hester to Triple-A Reno. Montero has been sidelined with a sprained knee since April 11. … RHP Jeff Suppan, who threw a bullpen session before the game, is expected to sign with the Cardinals and start Tuesday against Seattle. … On an unseasonably cool day, the roof of Chase Field was open. … Slumping Arizona RF Justin Upton, 6 for 31 in the home stand and the major league leader with 87 strikeouts, was dropped to seventh in the batting order. He was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. … Ottavino’s first two career starts were nationally televised Saturday games.