The Cardinals beat the Royals 10-3 at Kauffman Stadium Sunday to wrap up a three-game sweep in interleague play. Albert Pujols hit his 22nd home run, and his third in as many days, to put the Cardinals on top 1-0 in the fourth inning. He now has 22 home runs, 54 RBIs and 46 runs on the season—all three lead the major leagues. Pujols scored three times on Sunday. Chris Duncan and Hector Luna also hit home runs for the Cardinals—both went deep in the fifth inning.
St. Louis led 4-2 in before breaking the game open in the seventh with five runs off four hits and an error. A lead-off double from Larry Bigbie knocked starter Scott Elarton (0-5) out of the game. He was charged with five runs.
Andy Sisco entered the game and committed fielding error, which allowed Bigbie to score. After walking Gary Bennett and Hector Luna, Sisco was replaced with Mike Wood. The Cardinals scored four runs with Wood on the mound with a bases-loaded grounder from John Rodriguez, a two-run single from Jim Edmonds and a one-run single from Scott Spiezio. That made it 9-2
Aaron Guiel, Paul Bako and Angel Berroa all drove in runs for the Royals, who lost their ninth-straight game. Guiel hit a solo home run in the sixth inning—his third.
Jeff Suppan (5-2) allowed two runs off five hits in six innings of work.
The win pushed the Cardinals to 29-15 on the season and they own a four-game lead over the Reds in the National League Central. Meanwhile, the Royals have now lost nine in a row and their 10-31 record is the worst in Major League Baseball. The Cardinals lead the all-time, regular-season series with the Royals 22-14.
