It should come as no surprise anymore that Albert Pujols will likely deliver when the Cardinals need him most. But it is still pretty interesting to see what he does when clutch situations arise. That was the case on Tuesday night when Pujols blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to lift St. Louis over Colorado 4-2 at Busch.
Matt Holliday hit his third homer of the series, and tenth of the season, in the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie and give the Rockies a 2-1 lead. Fast forward to the bottom of the eighth: David Eckstein led off with a single and Juan Encarnacion legged out an infield single. Pujols was up next and ran the count full before lifting his 17th blast of the season to left center field. He leads the majors in home runs and RBIs (41). In seven of the Cardinals’ last 12 wins, Pujols has delivered the game-winning RBI.
Jason Isringhausen stepped to the mound in the top of the ninth and struck out the side to grab his ninth save of the season. Chris Carpenter allowed two runs, one earned, over seven innings and got the no-decision. He surrendered four hits and an uncharacteristically high six walks. Adam Wainwright (1-0) worked the eighth inning to get the win.
Jim Edmonds singled in a run in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. In the third inning, Jamey Carroll scored on a Clint Barnes grounder when David Eckstein committed a fielding error and the game was tied 1-1.
