Albert Pujols did it once again. The Cardinals’ first baseman blasted his major league-leading 18th home run of the season to lead St. Louis to a 7-4 win over the Rockies. His two run shot off Byung-Hyun Kim in the first inning gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead. Pujols upped his RBI total to 43, which also leads the majors. His previous at-bat was a three-run homer in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s game.
Juan Encarnacion hit his fifth home run of the season in the third inning to give the Cardinals a 4-1 advantage. John Rodriguez, Gary Bennett and Aaron Miles also drove in runs for the Cardinals.
Cardinals’ starter Jeff Suppan (4-2) won his fourth straight decision with a five-inning performance. He allowed three runs off six hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. After Suppan was lifted in the sixth, manager Tony La Russa went with five relievers over the final four innings to close it out.
For the second-straight game reliever Jason Isringhausen put the side down in order in the ninth inning to grab his tenth save of the season.
With the win, the Cardinals took the three-game series and improved to 22-13.