ST. LOUIS — Batting practice paid off in a big way Saturday for Matt Holliday.
Holliday corrected a mechanical glitch before the St. Louis Cardinals' game against Kansas City, and it manifested itself with a 4-for-5 game that included two doubles, a home run and five RBIs in a 10-7 victory.
"I made a little adjustment," Holliday said. "Big Mac (Mark McGwire) and Mabes (John Mabry) noticed something, so we made a little adjustment and it felt good. It's nice to get results."
Holliday and Yadier Molina combined for nine RBIs and both blasted two-run homers against Bruce Chen in the first inning. Holliday's homer was hit first since May 24 against the Philadelphia Phillies, a span of 64 at-bats.
Holliday had an RBI double in the second to knock out Chen and put St. Louis ahead 4-1. After flying out in the fifth, he had an RBI single against Greg Holland in the seventh and a run-scoring double against Kelvin Herrera in the eighth.
Holliday is batting .278 with 11 homers and 40 RBIs.
"It's been frustrating," Holliday said. "My swing's been a little off. I'm just trying to battle and find a good groove, find a comfort zone.
"Confidence-wise, it helps. You try to build on it. I feel pretty good about today. The adjustment I made should carry me over. We'll just kind of keep working on the same things we talked about this morning and go with that."
More replay talk
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, contrary to his players, doesn't favor an expanded instant-replay system to determine close calls like the one that occurred to end the game Friday.
With two outs in the ninth, Tyler Greene singled for the Cardinals and stole second. When the throw got away, Greene raced for third. The throw to third was way high, and Greene broke for home.
However, he was called out on a close play and the Royals celebrated a 3-2 victory.
"I think that's the problem: You just don't know where to draw the line," Matheny said, adding that he believes it would take away from the game if umpires were able to look at video of the play. "I think there just needs to be a call right there.
"Do I want to win? Do I want a tie out of that situation? Absolutely. I'm just not sure (replay) is good for the game."
Matheny looked more than once at the replay of Greene's slide and the tag by Royals catcher Humberto Quintero and still couldn't determine whether Greene was safe or out.
"I know as a catcher, (Quintero) has got the plate blocked," Matheny said. "If there's contact made and he comes up with the ball, you're out. That's been in baseball forever.
"He did a nice job blocking the plate. If (Greene) hit his leg like he did and they call him safe, even though he tagged him high, Ned (Yost, the Royals' manager) is going to go ballistic, and so would I (if I was the catcher). That's the way the game is played."
Injury update
Matheny said Skip Schumaker (right hamstring) is on target to rejoin the Cardinals on Tuesday in Detroit. Schumaker is on an injury rehab assignment with Class AAA Memphis and is projected to take over in center field when he returns.
"We're only a couple of days away from potentially having him," Matheny said. "He's been running really well. He scored a run his first game and didn't hold back anything at all. I think he's good to go."
Infielder Matt Carpenter (right oblique) also is rehabbing at Memphis and is considered slightly behind Schumaker's pace.
Furcal back
Shortstop Rafael Furcal returned to the lineup Saturday after he didn't start Friday for just the fifth time this season. Furcal entered the game as a pinch-hitter Friday and has appeared in 64 of the Cardinals' 66 games.
Matheny said Furcal and catcher Yadier Molina could be withheld from the lineup for the series finale at 1:15 p.m. Sunday. The Cardinals are idle Monday, which would serve as an extra breather for the duo.
Contact reporter David Wilhelm at dwilhelm@bnd.com or 239-2665. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidMWilhelm.
