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Record: 61-46, 1st, 5 GA Des Moines
St. Louis jumped out to a 5-0 lead after six innings and held on to defeat Columbus 6-3 at Busch Stadium (2006).
Manuel Coke's three-run home run off Golden Bears starting pitcher Dae-ki Jung put the River Walkers up 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning.
St. Louis banged out four straight singles off Jung in the fifth -- the first from pitcher Ming Xiang and the fourth from Mark Herman as Xiang scored -- to go up 4-0.
Abdul-Nasser bin Amr doubled off reliever Jamie Gam in the sixth and scored on a two-out single by Bob Saavedra in the sixth as the advantage reached 5-0.
The Walkers got a strong start from Xiang but may have stuck with him too long as a three-run homer from Edgar Salas in the top of the eighth drew Columbus to within 5-3.
Xiang (11-4) still got his 11th win by allowing three runs on seven hits over 7.2 innings. The rookie right-hander struck out eight and didn't walk a batter.
Nick Ruffalo finished off the eighth for St. Louis.
Maxmilliano Minelli struck out three of the four batters he faced in the ninth for his first save.
Eddie Estrella drove in an insurance run for the Walkers in the bottom of the eighth with a pinch-hit double off Pat Leadingham.