VIERA, Fla. (AP) _ Ryan Dempster allowed six hits and six runs in two innings Wednesday as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Florida Marlins 7-3.

Mark Smith was 2-for-2 for Florida and is batting .577 (15-for-26) this spring, and Luis Castillo had his second straight 3-for-3 game, getting two singles and a double. Castillo has hits in his last six at-bats.

Dempster, who left after the third inning, wasn't too upset with his performance.

``In a very strange way it can be good,'' he said. ``Now I can go back and look at my mechanics against when I was throwing good and see the mistakes. I just seemed to get out of my delivery a little bit today.''

It was Dempster's first rough outing after two solid performances in which he went a total of seven innings, allowing five hits and one earned run.

``I thought I threw some good pitches,'' he said. ``Some of the hits were just to the right spot. I finished strong though, in the third inning I felt better.''

The Cardinals, who were without Mark McGwire, scored four runs in the first inning on a bases-loaded error by Castillo at second, Fernando Tatis' single and the first of two doubles by Brian McRae.

Eduardo Perez hit a two-run homer in the second. Perez was hitting for Shawon Dunston, taken out after a Dempster pitch bruised his left forearm in the first inning.

Notes: Marlins RHP Joe Fontenot was optioned to Triple-A Calgary, RHP Nelson Lara was optioned to Double-A Portland and RHP Josh Beckett was optioned to Class-A Kane County. C Ryan Robertson and RHP Claudio Vargas were reassigned to the minor league camp.