St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - St. Louis native Ryan Howard continued to terrorize his hometown team, belting two home runs, driving in five runs and scoring four times as the Philadelphia Phillies trounced the Cardinals, 20-2, in the opener of a three-game set at Busch Stadium.

Howard has now played in 17 games against the Redbirds and has crushed eight home runs with 22 runs batted in and 17 runs scored. His outburst helped the Phillies tie their season-high in runs and set season-highs with 21 hits and six doubles.

Carlos Ruiz had his first career four-hit game and drove in four runs for the Phillies, who improved to 5-2 on their current nine-game road trip. Chase Utley went 2-for-3, slammed his major league-leading 22nd home run and drove in three, while Pat Burrell homered, walked three times and scored three times. Utley, Howard and Burrell combined for back-to-back-to-back homers in the first to give Philadelphia a lead it would never relinquish.

Kyle Kendrick (6-2) allowed two runs -- one earned -- on eight hits in seven innings to earn the win. Kendrick has not lost since April 16, a span of 11 starts, and the Phils are 10-1 in that stretch. The righty also helped himself at the plate, going 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

Todd Wellemeyer (7-2) took the loss for the Cardinals. who dropped their second straight game after winning four in a row. Wellemeyer, who entered the game 5-0 with a 1.88 earned run average over his last seven starts, was rocked for eight runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Skip Schumaker hit a solo homer for St. Louis, while Troy Glaus added an RBI single.

Leading 4-1, the Phils broke the game open in the fourth, scoring nine runs and sending 15 batters to the plate.

The Phillies loaded the bases with one out after a double by Kendrick, a walk to Jimmy Rollins and a single by Victorino. Utley then flipped a single to shallow center, allowing two runs to score and ending Wellemeyer's night. Ron Villone came on in relief, but didn't fare any better, as Howard ripped his first pitch into center for an RBI single.

Burrell walked to load the bases before Geoff Jenkins brought Utley home with a sacrifice fly. Pedro Feliz walked to load the bases again, and Ruiz crushed the next pitch to deep right-center for a ground-rule double that upped the lead to 10-1. Kendrick ripped a single to center that plated Feliz, and Ankiel's throw to the plate skipped past both Yadier Molina and Villone, allowing Ruiz to score on the error. After a walk to Rollins, Victorino slammed an RBI double off the wall in left. Utley drew the fifth walk of the inning to load the bases for Howard, who fanned to end the marathon inning.

Feliz ripped a one-out RBI double to center in the fifth, and Howard launched his second homer of the night, a three-run shot off Mark Worrell, in the sixth.

Glaus cut the deficit to 15 with an RBI single in the home sixth, but the Phils completed the rout in the eighth when Jenkins clubbed a two-run double and Ruiz added a run-scoring single to secure the final margin.

Wellemeyer picked up the first two outs in the first inning, but was victimized by three straight homers from the heart of the Phils lineup. Utley golfed a 2-2 fastball just over the wall in right. Howard followed up with a homer of his own, poking an 0-1 pitch to left that barely stayed fair. Wellemeyer then left a 3-1 fastball over the middle of the plate to Burrell, who launched it into the seats in left to complete the seventh set of back-to- back-to-back homers in franchise history.

Wellemeyer's struggles continued in the second, as Feliz led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored when Ruiz slammed a double to left.

Schumaker pulled back a run in the bottom of the third, yanking a one-out solo blast into the right field bullpen.