Albert Pujols hit his 40th and 41st home runs of the season to help the Cardinals to a 9-2 win over the Pirates, Thursday afternoon at PNC Park.
Pujols’ first homer of the game made it 2-0 in the third, the Cardinals followed with three straight doubles to make it 4-0. Pujols hit a solo shot in the sixth. Swinging a red hot bat with two more hits is Matt Holliday, who is hitting .417 in his last 10 games.
Jeff Suppan went five innings, allowing a run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks for the win. With the National League Central-leading Reds and Wild Card-leading Braves both off on Thursday, St. Louis’ elimination number in both of those races remains at three.