By Jeremy Kahn

After learning earlier in the day that Matt Cain was placed on the disabled list for the second time this season, Madison Bumgarner went out and proved why he can be considered to be one of the aces of the staff.

Bumgarner struck out 10 for the second game in a row, as the Giants won their fourth straight game with a 9-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

In seven innings of work, Bumgarner did not allow a run, gave up just three hits and walked just one.

Over his last two games against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday and tonight against the Cardinals, Bumgarner is 2-0 with just one walk and 20 strikeouts.

The Giants have won eight out of their last nine, and are now 35-19 on the season, the best record in the major leagues and are seven games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies in the National League West.

Hunter Pence hit a huge three-run home run, and added another hit, while Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single and a double; however Sandoval’s streak of nine consecutive games with a RBI was stopped.

Both Gregor Blanco and Hector Sanchez each picked up two-run singles, as the Giants scored seven runs with two outs on the evening and on the season, the Giants have scored 117 runs with two outs, the most in the major leagues.

Giants leadoff batter Angel Pagan also got in on the act, as he picked up two hits and scored twice against the reigning National League Champions.

Adam Wainwright, who entered the game with a 20-inning scoreless streak and a major league leading 1.67 earned run average, lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing seven runs in eight hits and his earned run average raised to 2.32.

The Giants got Wainwright in the very first inning, as Pagan led off the game with a double, went to third on a Pence flyball and then scored on a two-out single by Michael Morse.

Things got ugly for the Cardinals and Wainwright in the top of the second inning, as the Giants exploded for four runs, as Pagan singled in Brandon Hicks and then Pence slammed a Wainwright pitch into BigMacLand, a 447-foot blast that gave the Giants 5-0 lead.

John Jay broke up the shutout in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he cleared the bases with a double off of David Huff and then Allen Craig added an RBI double off of Juan Gutierrez.