ST. LOUIS (AP) -- J.D. Drew's power outage is over.

	J.D. Drew made sure there was no power outage in St. Louis, hitting two HRs.

"If it goes out, it goes out," Drew said. "I ain't up there trying to be a McGwire or anything. I know my role is to get on base and let guys drive me in."

St. Louis was without Mark McGwire, Fernando Vina and Ray Lankford, all sidelined by hamstring injuries. McGwire, who missed his 12th game of the season, and Vina were hurt Monday, and Lankford was injured Saturday. They aren't expected back before Friday.

McGwire, singing along with the clubhouse sound system as he dressed after the game, declined to comment on his injury.

"You have injuries, but everybody deals with injuries," Drew said. "The guys stepped up and did good."

McGwire's replacement at first base, Larry Sutton, hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning.

"I'm not 6-8 and I don't have big arms like McGwire to really drive the ball," said Sutton, called up earlier in the day. "I know I've just got to drive the ball to the outfield somewhere."

Andy Benes (5-3) allowed four runs in the third, then retired 12 in a row later as the Cardinals won for only the second time in seven games.

Benes allowed four runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings and struck out six. Dave Veres got five outs for his 10th save in 13 chances.

"That doesn't give you any room for error," Benes said of the Royals' big inning. "Fortunately they didn't score any more."

Jermaine Dye was 1-for-3 with an RBI double, but his streak of consecutive games with home runs was stopped at four. Dye, who has 18 homers, tied the team record Monday night.

"I'm not a home-run hitter, I just go out there and play," Dye said. "If it goes over the fence, it goes over the fence. I leave it to Mark McGwire and guys like that."

Drew raised his season total to eight with a solo shot in the fourth and a two-run drive in the fifth. It was his second multihomer game of the season, the fourth of his career.

The Cardinals, who lead the majors with 103 homers, had connected only once in the previous five games.

With the score at 4, Jim Edmonds doubled off Jay Witasick (1-5) leading off the seventh and advanced on Eric Davis' groundout. Sutton, who played for the Royals from 1997-99, drove him in with his third RBI of the season.

Mike Sweeney, who entered hitting .432 with runners in scoring position, had a two-run double in a four-run third that included RBI doubles by Dye and Joe Randa.

Royals starter Chris Fussell allowed four runs and five hits in five innings. Only one of his six walks hurt him, with Davis aboard for Drew's second home run.

"Inconsistency is the trouble with Fuss," manager Tony Muser said. "He'll have a bad time facing one hitter and come back and look decent. You're kind of always on edge about what he's going to present to the next hitter."

Game notes
Dye didn't hit his 18th home run last season until July 17. ... The Royals have scored 50 runs the first six games this month. ... Rey Sanchez is in a 10-for-69 (.145) slump. ... Sweeney is the only Royals player to appear in every game, and all of them have been starts. ... Drew homered twice April 6 against the Cubs. ... The Royals are 6-5 in the cross-state interleague series. ... The Royals are assured of their first winning trip, going 5-3 with one game to go.