Meltdown on mound

Rasmus homered twice, including a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning Wednesday night that gave the St. Louis Cardinals a testy 9-4 win over the Diamondbacks.

The benches emptied in the second inning when Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter, after being hit by a pitch from Edwin Jackson, tried to take out Arizona second baseman Kelly Johnson on a double-play ball. No punches were thrown.

It was tied at 4 when Rasmus opened the ninth with a home run off Chad Qualls, who was roundly booed by the crowd of 19,165. The Cardinals scored five times in the inning, capped by Skip Schumaker's three-run homer off Bob Howry.

Rasmus hit a two-run homer in the first inning.

"I felt like my swing was where I wanted it to be," Rasmus said.

The Diamondbacks' loss further illuminated their bullpen struggles this season.

"It's getting pretty ridiculous to be honest, and it's no fun to lose these games," manager A.J. Hinch said. "It's hard to find new ways to describe late inning failures, where they scratch not one, not two, but multiple runs on top of us to take us out of games."

Qualls said he's frustrated with his start, which includes three blown saves in five chances this season.

"I worked my butt off to get healthy this year and it's just not paying off right now," he said. "That's just the way baseball goes and I have to keep grinding it out and keep doing what I do every day and I know it's going to turn around."

Jason Motte (1-1) got the victory. Jackson hit Carpenter in the left wrist with one out in the second and both pitchers exchanged words while being restrained. A still-fuming Carpenter then appeared to make a move at Johnson on the bases. Johnson said something to Carpenter and the dugouts cleared.

"The catcher was setting his glove up high. They were trying to throw the ball up there," Carpenter said, acknowledging that Jackson wasn't trying to hit him intentionally. "There's no need for it. It's not like I can hit. Throw the ball down and away, throw a slider. Come on. It's not right."

Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said Carpenter was so angry - the ball broke the skin and left a bloody abrasion - that Carpenter had trouble breathing. Carpenter said he regretted going in hard toward Johnson.

"That was my fault and it was an unprofessional move. I shouldn't have done it and I told (first base coach) Matt Williams at first to tell Kelly it was unprofessional," Carpenter said.

UP NEXT

• What: Phillies at D-backs

• When: 6:40 p.m., Friday

• TV: FSAZ

• Radio: 1490-AM