KANSAS CITY • The ascent never should have taken this long, but the Cardinals ended an almost incomprehensible stretch of 65 consecutive days under .500 when they climbed to that modest plateau Monday night with an 11-3 interleague win over the Kansas City Royals.
“Is that how long it’s been?” asked Matt Carpenter.
On their sixth try since July 18 at attaining a break-even record, the Cardinals rolled out their second big inning in two days. After the Cardinals had tallied nine runs in the fourth inning Sunday at Cincinnati, Carpenter’s three-run homer, his first home run since June 24, capped a six-run fourth inning Monday night before a spirited, bipartisan, sellout crowd of 38,478 at Kauffman Stadium.