Phillies 4, Cardinals 1: St. Louis native Ryan Howard homered for the third time in four contests and rookie David Buchanan tossed 7 2/3 solid innings as visiting Philadelphia recorded its season-best fourth win in a row and eighth in 10 outings.

Chase Utley had two hits and scored twice and Domonic Brown added a sacrifice fly for the Phillies, who handed the Cardinals their second straight loss following a five-game winning streak. Jimmy Rollins ripped a two-out single in the third to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Howard, playing in his first contest at Busch Stadium since rupturing his Achilles' tendon in the National League Division Series in 2011, grounded a ball up the middle to plate Carlos Ruiz before Utley scored on Brown's sacrifice to right field in the fourth. Howard doubled the advantage in the sixth with his team-leading 14th homer as he deposited a 1-2 fastball from Shelby Miller (7-6) over the wall in left field.

Buchanan (3-3), entering the game with an 0-2 mark and a gaudy 8.25 ERA on the road, recorded his second straight victory in impressive fashion. The rookie allowed Matt Carpenter's RBI single in the eighth and three other hits before Jonathan Papelbon retired the side in the ninth for his 17th save.

After piecing together two strong outings, Miller permitted four runs on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings to take the loss.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Howard has flourished while playing in his hometown, recording 10 homers and 38 RBIs in 27 games. He is 7-for-17 with three blasts and nine RBIs in his last four contests overall. ... Philadelphia 3B Reid Brignac injured his left ankle as both he and Miller slid into first base at the same time. Brignac was replaced in the field by Cesar Hernandez. ... St. Louis announced that RHP Carlos Martinez will start Sunday's game in place of RHP Michael Wacha. The team is admittedly monitoring the workload of Wacha.