Recap: St. Louis vs. Arizona
Sports Network | September 25, 2008
St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Albert Pujols homered and drove in four runs as St. Louis routed Arizona, 12-3, and eliminated the Diamondbacks from playoff contention.
The Arizona loss clinched the NL West for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Pujols finished 3-for-3 and raised his average to .353 for the Cardinals, who were officially eliminated from postseason chase Tuesday and won for just the fifth time in 15 games. Ryan Ludwick also homered for St. Louis, which banged out 17 hits in the contest.
Joel Pineiro (7-7) hurled seven solid innings, allowing three runs on just three hits while walking two and fanning seven to pick up the win.
Adam Dunn homered for the Diamondbacks, who have dropped three in a row. Mark Reynolds added a two-run single.
Doug Davis started on the hill for Arizona and lasted only four-plus innings, surrendering three runs on seven hits. Leo Rosales (1-1) took the loss after allowing two runs in one-plus innings of relief.
Trailing 3-2, St. Louis bounced back to deadlock things in the fourth when Brendan Ryan walked, moved up 90-feet on Pineiro's sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate on a Cesar Izturis triple to right.
The Cards went in front for good with two runs in the sixth. Izturis led off the frame by drawing a walk off Rosales and quickly swiped second. Brian Barton got on with a bunt single to put runners on the corners. Arizona brought in Tony Pena, who managed to get Felipe Lopez on a fly ball. But, Pujols followed with a sac fly to center before Ludwick capped the frame with an RBI single to make it a 5-3 game.
The wheels fell off for the Diamondbacks in the seventh as St. Louis put up five insurance runs to secure the game. Adam Kennedy led off with a triple off Pena and pinch-hitter Aaron Miles followed with a run-scoring single. After Izturis advanced Miles with a sac but, pinch hitter Skip Schumaker got on with an infield single.
The D-Backs had seen enough of Pena and went to Yusmeiro Petit, who got Lopez on a pop out to short but served up a three-run homer to Pujols, the slugger's 35th of the year. Ludwick followed with his 36th homer and the Cards had a more than comfortable 10-3 advantage.
A Lopez two-run single for St. Louis in the eighth accounted for the final margin.
The Cards jumped on top with a pair of runs in the first. Lopez got on with a one-out single and advanced to third on a Pujols base hit. After Ludwick popped out, Troy Glaus drew a walk to load the bases and Jason LaRue came through with a two-out, two-run single.
Dunn quickly cut the lead in half for the Diamondbacks when he led off the second with his 39th homer of the year.
Arizona then grabbed the lead in the fourth when Dunn drew a two-out walk and Justin Upton followed with a double before Reynolds drove both runners home with a single to left.
Reynolds set a major league record when he fanned for the 200th time this season in the second inning against Pineiro. Reynolds attempted to check his swing but was called out by first base umpire Ed Rapuano. He broke the previous mark of 199 set by Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard last year...Reynolds also fanned in the seventh giving him 201 strikeouts on the year...St. Louis has won eight of its last 11 at home in this series.
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