SPORTSTICKER NL RECAP LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Thomas Howard's pinch-hit three-run homer capped a four-run seventh inning and Edgar Renteria added three RBI singles as the St. Louis Cardinals downed the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-3. Howard belted his sixth career pinch homer off Onan Masaoka to make it 7-3. Run-scoring singles by Shawon Dunston and Renteria an inning prior staked the Cardinals to a 4-1 lead. "I come off the bench, it helps being righthanded or lefthanded," said Howard, who batted exclusively lefthanded last season. "I look at it like I'm leading off the game, I just have one at-bat, I need to go out and make the best of it." Darren Oliver (4-2) won his second straight start, surrendering three runs and seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Four relievers combined to scatter four hits over 3 2/3 shutout innings as the Cardinals took two of three games from the Dodgers for the second straight weekend and won the season series, 6-3. The game was interrupted by a bench-clearing incident that erupted in the ninth after Dodgers reliever Jamie Arnold hit Dunston with a pitch. Arnold had hit Joe McEwing two batters earlier. Dunston was the only player ejected. "Did I charge the mound?" I work hard and play hard, I don't show anyone up, so don't show me up," responded Dunston when asked if he felt Arnold was throwing at him. "I'm not talking about the fight, the game's over. We just beat a good team and all you guys want to do is talk about the fight. We took six out of nine from one of the best teams in baseball." St. Louis has won six of its last eight games overall and improved to 15-8 on the road. Carlos Perez (1-6) lost his third straight start, allowing four runs and nine hits over 5 2/3 innings. He has allowed 16 runs and 21 hits over 15 innings in that span and fell to 3-3 lifetime against the Dodgers. Los Angeles has dropped six of its last eight games but set a Dodger Stadium record by drawing 162,376 to the three-game series. The previous record was 162,122 when the San Francisco Giants played three games from September 5-7, 1966. Oliver struck out Adrian Beltre with the bases loaded to end the first inning before scoring on Renteria's RBI single in the third. McEwing extended the lead to 2-0 on a fourth-inning base hit, but a run-scoring single by Tripp Cormer made it a one-run game in the bottom of the inning. Oliver, who was 6-for-19 entering the game, had his second single in the sixth inning to put runners on the corners with one out. Dunston and Renteria followed with RBI singles to pad the lead. "It's always a plus," said Oliver about his hitting. "I was getting a little tired out there, running around the bases really wears you out. But I can't complain because it means we're scoring runs." Eric Karros had a solo homer and Trenidad Hubbard added a run-scoring single to make it 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth. But Alberto Castillo's two-out walk triggered the decisive rally. McEwing doubled Castillo to third before Howard ripped a 3-1 offering over the left-field fence. Dunston followed with a single and stole second before scoring on Renteria's base hit.  