KANSAS CITY, Mo. Alex Avila Jersey . -- Matt Carpenter had a career-high five hits for St. Louis on Wednesday night. The last of them was arguably the most important. Carpenter delivered a go-ahead double in the 11th inning, and the Cardinals added two more runs on a single by Allen Craig, sending them to a 5-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals and ending a frustrating three-game losing streak. "Sometimes it takes an emotional victory like this to kind of jumpstart a team," said Carpenter, who also reached base on a walk. "Maybe this one will be the one for us." The Royals rallied with two runs in the ninth, and the game remained tied until the 11th, when Peter Bourjos worked a one-out walk off Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera (1-2). Carpenter then rapped his double to centre field, drawing a roar from a crowd comprised mostly of Cardinals fans. Craig added his single off Tim Collins later in the inning, and Pat Neshek breezed through the bottom half to end the Royals six-game winning streak against National League clubs. Sam Freeman (1-0) earned the win with a perfect 10th inning. "It was just one of those gut-check games," Craig said. "Were not going to stop competing." Carpenter became the first Cardinal to record five hits in a game since Ryan Ludwick on Sept. 4, 2009. He had a part in his clubs first three runs, driving in Mark Ellis in the second inning and scoring on Matt Hollidays groundout in the seventh After St. Louis dropped the first two games of the four-game, two-city set at Busch Stadium, the NL champs rebounded to win for the eighth straight time at Kauffman Stadium. The Cardinals persevered after Adam Wainwright blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth inning. He struck out Eric Hosmer to start it, but the ball squirted away from catcher Yadier Molina, allowing Hosmer to reach first base. Billy Butler followed with a crisp single up the middle. Trevor Rosenthal, who took the loss Tuesday night, entered in relief and walked Alex Gordon on a full count to load the bases. Salvador Perez followed with a broken-bat groundout to score a run, and Lorenzo Cains single up the middle knotted the game 2-all. "You lose the lead and a start like that from Waino, theres a lot of teams that will roll over in that situation," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said, "but the guys stepped up." The ninth-inning rally still soured a dazzling outing by Wainwright, who was trying to become the NLs first nine-game winner. The two-time All-Star did not allow a hit until the sixth inning, stranded three runners on third base and struck out eight while walking just two. "Wainwright pitched a great game. Hes an unbelievable pitcher," Cain said. "When we tied the game, I thought we had them. We tried to spoil it for him at the end." Wainwright wasnt the only Cardinal to get on track, though. Molina had hits in his first two at-bats, snapping an 0-for-16 streak. Ellis ended an 0-for-8 stretch with his single in the second that led to the games first run. Jason Vargas kept Kansas City in it most of the night. After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning, he went on strand 10 in a season-high eight innings. The left-hander allowed nine hits and walked two while allowing two runs or fewer for the fifth time in six starts. "Carpenter was pretty hot," Vargas said. "It was just one of those games where youve got to grind, make pitches and kind of think your way through things." NOTES: Vargas threw a season-high 117 pitches. ... Royals RHP Greg Holland pitched a scoreless 10th, his 11th straight appearance without allowing a run. ... LHP Bruce Chen (bulging disc) said he will need at least two more rehab starts before rejoining the Royals. He allowed eight hits in three innings for Double-A Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday night. ... Cardinals 2B Kolten Wong was out of the lineup with a sore right shoulder. He pinch hit for Ellis in the 10th inning and remained in the game. ... RHP Michael Wacha starts for St. Louis in Thursdays series finale. RHP Yordano Ventura is on the mound for Kansas City. Yasmany Tomas Diamondbacks Jersey . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Defensive Depth TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun is reporting the Toronto Maple Leafs have considerable interest in unrestricted free-agent defenceman Dan Boyle. Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys ., climbed from seventh to fifth spot in womens competition Sunday at the ISU world junior figure skating championships. http://www.diamondbackssale.com/diamondbacks-archie-bradley-jersey/ .com) - The Calgary Flames are spoilers once again.CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings have taken similar paths toward the top, hitting big in the draft and making shrewd moves after rough stretches. They find themselves trying to knock each other out in the Western Conference finals for the second straight year. The Blackhawks prevailed last year on their way to the Stanley Cup, and they have the early lead this time after taking the opener, 3-1. They will try to go up 2-0 when the best-of-seven series resumes Wednesday night in Chicago. "We felt this year were in the toughest division and conference," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We just played two real competitive series (against St. Louis and Minnesota). Every game is tight. I think finding a way to win is what its all about in todays game. Our guys are really diligent of doing the little things particularly that some nights give you an edge." Yes, the Blackhawks keep finding ways. Its why theyre eyeing their third championship in five years and are trying to become the first team to repeat since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. In an era with a hard salary cap where players want raises, thats simply not supposed to happen. Parity is the rule, yet the Blackhawks keep rising toward the top. The same goes for the Kings. Theyre enjoying their most successful era with three straight trips to the conference finals and a Stanley Cup two years ago after following a similar path to the Blackhawks. The Kings missed the playoffs from 2003 to 2009 and lost in the first round in 2010 and 2011 before winning their first championship in 2012. Like the Blackhawks did with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, they hit in the draft with Anze Kopitar. They also collected a strong cast to support their core and filled in the gaps with key trades, like the one that landed Marian Gaborik from Columbus in March. "You have to be able to adjust to the game, adjust to the rules, adjust to the style," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "I think thats a big reason why were both in the confference finals again. Matt Szczur Diamondbacks Jersey. Whether we can adjust enough to beat the Stanley Cup champions, I dont know." The Blackhawks missed the playoffs from 2003 to 2008 and landed at rock bottom, with dwindling attendance and an alienated fan base unable to watch home games on TV because then-owner Bill Wirtz believed it would be unfair to season ticketholders. They finally emerged with a run to the conference finals in 2009, losing to Detroit. A year later, they beat Philadelphia to end a 49-year championship drought, only to have to part ways with a huge chunk of their team because of cap issues. So they reloaded. "I think management did excellent job with the team," Chicagos Marian Hossa said. "We got a great coaching staff. I think the whole organization, its top class. ... (Los Angeles) is a great organization also. They did an excellent job the last few years. They did it three times in a row. Its just amazing these two teams battling for the West again." The Kings had a few adjustments to make after losing 3-1 in Game 1. Their top line of Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Gaborik got shut down by Toews line, managing just six shots without scoring. Los Angeles will need more from a trio with 16 goals and 24 assists in the playoffs. Even when the Kings had their chances, Corey Crawford stopped most of them. He made 25 saves with several neat stops, turning back Kyle Clifford on a 2-on-1 rush and stopping Gaborik and Brown in rapid succession. So its the Blackhawks with the early lead in the series and the Kings trying to pick themselves up -- again. They did it after dropping the first three games to San Jose in the first round and then rallied from 3-2 down to knock out Anaheim in the conference semifinals. "San Jose and Anaheim had arguably the top two, three, four best home records this year. We went into those tough buildings and won," Jarrett Stoll said. "Chicago is no different. A tough building. Were going to have to figure out a way to win Game 2 and move on." ' ' '