ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels was more like a heavyweight fight, with both sides throwing blows and neither side willing to throw in the towel.

Eventually, the final bell rang, and it was the Cardinals who landed the most punches, beating the Angels 12-10 Thursday night at Angel Stadium and completing a three-game sweep.

The Angels (13-21) lost their sixth in a row, all at home, their first six-game home skid since 2011. The Cardinals (19-16) improved to a season-best three games over .500.

The teams combined for 33 hits, 18 by the Cardinals. Matt Holliday let the St. Louis attack with four hits, including two home runs. Matt Carpenter had two hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth inning that gave St. Louis the lead for good.

Every Cardinals batter in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Matt Adams had three hits and three RBIs, and Yadier Molina added two singles, a double and a walk.

"We swung the bats really well," Holliday said of the Cardinals' offense, which scored 25 runs in the three-game set. "A lot of hard hits, a lot of extra-base hits, it's fun. It's fun as an offense to come in and kind of feed off each other."

As prolific as the Cardinals' offense was, St. Louis needed nearly every run because the Angels had a rare night of offense as well. Los Angeles scored more runs Thursday than in its previous five games combined (eight).

Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (3-3) was hit hard but got the win despite giving up seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits and one walk in five innings.

"All of us know that he's just some sort of minor adjustment away from being the guy we expect him to be," Holliday said of Wainwright. "He's going to throw seven, eight, nine innings of shutout baseball. He's just one of those guys that you know when things are right and he gets his rhythm, he'll be who he is. He's the least of my worries; he's one small adjustment from being dominant."

Angels starter Jered Weaver (3-2) was beat up even more than Wainwright, giving up eight runs on nine hits in four-plus innings, all of the damage against him coming in the fourth and fifth innings.

Weaver retired the first 11 batters before Holliday homered with two outs in the fourth, and the pounding was just getting started. Beginning with Holliday's homer, Weaver gave up nine hits in the span of 10 at-bats, including two homers to Holliday and Carpenter's three-run blast.

"He just missed some spots," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "They have a strong lineup, no doubt, and I thought the first time through (the lineup) he did a really good job of hitting spots. But then he started to miss with some pitches in the fourth and fifth innings, and those guys didn't miss the pitches."

The Angels' offense finished with 15 hits, including two each from Yunel Escobar, Daniel Nava, C.J. Cron, Cliff Pennington, Kole Calhoun and Albert Pujols.

Los Angeles made things interesting in the ninth, getting an RBI single from Calhoun and a two-run homer by Pujols off reliever Seth Maness.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny then summoned closer Trevor Rosenthal, who walked the next three hitters in a row, loading the bases with one out.

Matheny had seen enough, and he replaced Rosenthal with Kevin Siegrist, who struck out Carlos Perez and got pinch hitter Shane Robinson on a foul popup for his first save of the season.

"There were some things tonight that were frustrating, for sure, but the comeback wasn't," Scioscia said. "The fact that we came back and were on the brink I think says a lot about the heart in that clubhouse. You can tell a lot about people when things aren't going the right way, and right now, things aren't going the right way for us."

Pujols' two-run homer in the ninth was his first home run against his former team, meaning he has now homered against all 30 of the current major league clubs.

NOTES: The Angels' starting lineup consisted of five players whose batting average was below .200 -- DH Albert Pujols (.185), LF Daniel Nava (.192), 2B Johnny Giavotella (.197), C Carlos Perez (.159) and SS Cliff Pennington (.182). Only one -- CF Mike Trout at .303 -- was above .300. ... Cardinals CF Randal Grichuk was drafted by the Angels with the 24th overall pick in the 2009 draft, one ahead of Angels CF Mike Trout. They made their professional debuts together in the Angels' minor league system and were roommates. Injuries slowed Grichuk's development as Trout swiftly reached the big leagues in 2011. Grichuk ultimately was traded to the Cardinals along with OF Peter Bourjos in the deal for 3B David Freese and RHP Fernando Salas. ... Angels RHP Mike Morin has not allowed a hit in his past 11 games (10 inning). It is the second longest no-hit streak in Angels history, behind RHP Ernesto Frieri's run of 13 games in 2012. ... Cardinals OF Tommy Pham, out since April 3 with an oblique strain, had his rehab assignment transferred to Double-A Springfield. Pham was the Cardinals' Opening Day starter in left field but was injured in the first inning.