ESPN MLB

ST. LOUIS -- Another Philadelphia Phillies star is ailing.

Two-time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay gave up a grand slam to Yadier Molina in an abbreviated two-inning start before leaving with shoulder soreness in an 8-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. Halladay pitched with the injury the last few innings of his last start, and cutting back on throwing between outings didn't help.

"Worried? Yeah, definitely, I'm concerned," manager Charlie Manuel said. "Pitching is one of the big things on our club and when guys miss a turn, it concerns me."

The Phillies, already without stars Ryan Howard and Chase Utley all year, missed a chance for their first four-game sweep in St. Louis in 99 years.

Manuel declined to lay out a scenario if Halladay can't make his next start or worse, saying only: "If we have to fill a rotation spot, we'll get somebody and fill it. The games will go on."

Asked about his level of concern, pitching coach Rich Dubee said: "I don't know. I'm not a doctor."

Dubee told Halladay (4-5) that his day was done in the dugout after chatting with the pitcher.

"I know he's had a cranky shoulder and he hasn't looked right, and didn't look right today," Dubee said. "And I knew he wasn't going to come out of the game, so I basically said 'That's enough.'"

Halladay said the soreness comes from the back of the shoulder. He anticipates an examination on Tuesday.

"I'm hoping it's something we can just calm down quickly and get back out there," the pitcher said. "It's not the point where I'm in agony throwing pitches."

Adam Wainwright (4-5) allowed a run on seven hits in six innings, thriving in 90-degree heat for his second straight dominant outing. Molina left due to dehydration during an at-bat in the fifth.

"I was seeing the pitcher like three pitchers at the same time," Molina said. "So that wasn't a good feeling. I was kind of dizzy. It's the first time it happened to me and I'm glad I said something."

All of the Cardinals' runs came from homers. Carlos Beltran's three-run homer in the fifth was his NL-leading 15th and rookie Matt Adams, who's been filling in for injured Lance Berkman at first base, added the first of his career off Chad Qualls.

Halladay (4-5) departed with a 3.98 ERA after an outing that matched the second-shortest outing of his career. The team said the two-time Cy Young award winner was taken out as a precautionary measure and that he'll be re-evaluated in the next few days.

Halladay was 19-6 with a 2.35 ERA last year, and allowed 10 homers in 32 starts. Since winning his first three starts, Halladay is 1-5 with a 5.08 ERA in eight games, and the Phillies have lost seven of his last eight starts.

He's absorbed the last two losses for the Phillies, who entered the series finale on a four-game winning streak.

Molina's third career grand slam was the fifth allowed by Halladay, two of them this year after the Braves' Brian McCann connected May 2 at Atlanta. Halladay has allowed six homers this season, all this month.

Unlike 2004, when Halladay had two stints on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder injury, he wasn't able to pinpoint a particular pitch with which the pain began. The biggest problem is the time between innings when the shoulder tightens.

"It's kind of that down time when it seemed to come up," Halladay said. "I think if I just went out and threw 100 straight pitches without taking a break it might be all right."

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny caught Halladay as a rookie in 1999 in Toronto, and knew the pitcher was off his game.

"You just didn't know if it was physical or if it was just one of those things where he couldn't get anything positive going," Matheny said. "But usually you can tell if something isn't completely right.

"Those guys aren't squaring him up like they have been lately."

Skip Schumaker and Matt Holliday singled with one out and David Freese walked with two outs before Molina hit his seventh homer of the season to straightaway center, a deceptive drive that had Shane Victorino backpedaling before running out of room.

This is the 89th time the teams have met in St. Louis for a four-game series since the Phillies' last sweep in 1913. The Phillies' last three-game sweep in St. Louis was in 2006.

"Going out there you just feel like we're walking into a heavyweight bout with these guys and you're just going to have to slug it out," Matheny said. "The hit by Yaddy, the home run, was a big deal just to give us that shot in the arm.

"You could just tell it was a different atmosphere at that point."

Molina made the Cardinals' only mistake, trotting from first to third after believing Adams' drive right-center in the fourth was a homer. Victorino made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Adams of extra bases and threw to first for an easy double play.

The Phillies' 2-3-4 hitters, Juan Pierre, Hunter Pence and Carlos Ruiz, combined for seven hits. Pierre had three hits and two RBIs.

The Cardinals lead the NL with 63 homers after entering the game with eight more than the next-best Brewers.

Wainwright has allowed three runs in 21 2/3 innings his last three starts, including a shutout with nine strikeouts against the Padres in his last time out. He walked none for the first time this season and struck out two to go to 3-1 for his career against Philadelphia.

Game notes

The Cardinals are the first team in the majors with three players who have hit 10 or more homers. ... The Phillies lost for just the fourth time in their last 14 road games. ... Halladay had no strikeouts and remained 10 shy of becoming the fourth active player with 2,000. ... Before McCann's grand slam earlier this month, the last slam off Halladay was by the Rays' Evan Longoria in 2008. ... Molina's last grand slam was Sept. 6, 2010, at Milwaukee against Todd Coffey. ... Jimmy Rollins doubled in the fifth for his first extra-base hit in eight games. ... Adams has 10 hits, five for extra bases.