Kyle McClellan pitched 5 2/3 solid innings and drove in a pair of runs as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals took the opener of a three-game set 8-2 over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

Lance Berkman homered twice and Skip Schumaker drove in a run for the Cardinals, won won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

McClellan (1-0) allowed one run and scattered seven hits to earn his first major league win as a starter. The righthander got his own support started in the third inning when he laced an RBI double to right-center to give St. Louis a 1-0 edge.

The Cardinals broke it open against Barry Enright (0-1) in the fourth with three runs on Schumaker’s RBI double, and run-scoring singles by McClellan and Ryan Theriot. St. Louis had a chance to turn that into an even bigger inning, but Albert Pujols flied out with the bases loaded for the third out.

Pujols finished 1-for-5 with a strikeout, and is batting .150.

The Cardinals put it away in the top of the ninth when Berkman hit a two-run shot and Jon Jay followed with a solo homer off Juan Gutierrez.