OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Anyone going out to the Omaha Storm Chasers ball game on Aug. 1 won’t be able to buy peanuts or, for that matter, Cracker Jack popcorn.  The Pacific Coast League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals will take anything containing peanuts off its concessions menu for the game against the Reno Aces. The Storm Chasers and an Omaha allergy clinic are holding Peanut Free Night to bring awareness to people who have peanut allergies. Several minor-league baseball teams have held peanut-free games for years, and major-league teams occasionally reserve sections of their stadiums for people who have peanut allergies.  About 3 million Americans are allergic to peanuts or foods containing peanuts.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter expects to begin a rehab program next week following surgery to relieve nerve compression that left his arm and much of the right side of his body numb.  The 37-year-old Carpenter gave no guarantee Tuesday that he’d be back without a doubt next season. But Carpenter said the surgeon, Dr. Greg Pearl of Dallas, told him there were no complications. Carpenter’s top rib was removed along with two of the connecting muscles. He was injured in spring training and last pitched as the Game 7 World Series winner last fall.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Lance Berkman of the St. Louis Cardinals was taken out for a pinch runner not long after getting hit by a pitch on his surgically-repaired right knee in the third inning of Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers. Trainers attended to Berkman after he was struck by a breaking ball from the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw to lead off the inning. 
 
Berkman took his base but only trotted to second when Daniel Descalso followed with a single. After a chat with third base coach Jose Oquendo, Matt Carpenter replaced Berkman on the bases, and then took over at first base. Berkman is batting .281 with a homer and six RBIs in 21 games. He’s just 4 for 22 with two RBIs and two doubles since coming off the 15-day disabled list to start the second half without a rehab stint following surgery in late May.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Adam Wainwright’s first two RBIs of the season helped knock out Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in the sixth inning in a game that began in 103-degree heat as the St. Louis Cardinals ended Los Angeles’ five-game winning streak with an 8-2 victory on Tuesday night.    Wainwright (8-10) allowed two runs and seven hits with seven strikeouts in 7 1-3 innings.

He was batting .079 (3-for-38) with three singles and 17 strikeouts coming in. Wainwright doubled to left-center with two outs in the fifth for St. Louis’ first run, then scored the tying run on Rafael Furcal’s single. After Daniel Descalso was intentionally walked to load the bases in the sixth, Wainwright walked on five pitches to give the Cardinals a two-run lead in a six-run sixth that put them up 8-2.  Kershaw (7-6) gave up eight runs and seven hits in 5 2-3 innings, the second-most runs ever allowed by the 2011 NL Cy Young winner.