Cards jump

"But I need to give credit to the leadoff guy and the middle of the lineup. They're always on base and giving me a chance to drive runs in."

He had a run-scoring groundout in the first and a two-run double in the third off Jeff D'Amico (1-3), and was 6-for-11 with nine RBIs in the three-game series. Pujols, who leads the NL with 180 hits, has at least one RBI in 11 of his last 15 games.

Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes compared Pujols' season to Fred Lynn, who was rookie of the year and MVP for the Boston Red Sox in 1975.

"I don't know the numbers Lynn had in the American League," Lopes said. "That's probably the last time in my day and age that you remember a rookie coming in and dominating all phases of the game."

Paquette contributes

Craig Paquette, making his first start since Sept. 9, had a pair of RBI singles. Placido Polanco's RBI double in the first scored St. Louis' first run.

D'Amico made his third start since coming back from elbow surgery in July, and allowed five runs on six hits in four innings. He has surrendered 14 earned runs in 11 2-3 innings since his return.

Jose Hernandez homered in the fourth for Milwaukee. Burnitz added an RBI single in the eighth off Steve Kline, appearing in his NL-leading 81st game for the Cardinals.

Edgar Renteria had an RBI triple and scored on Mike Matheny's sacrifice fly in the eighth for St. Louis.

NOTES: Pujols became only the fourth Cardinals rookie to score 100 runs when he came in on Paquette's single in the third and made it 101 runs when he doubled and scored in the fifth. The last Cardinals rookie to do it was Vince Coleman with 107 runs in 1985. John Heidrick holds the team record with 109 runs in 1899. Pujols needs 18 total bases to tie Dick Allen's NL rookie record of 352 set in 1964 for the Phillies. ... Brewers 2B Mark Loretta was out of the lineup, a day after fouling a ball off his left knee Wednesday night. ... The Cardinals are 50-26 at home. They entered the game tied with the Giants for the best home record in the NL. ... They're 30-13 since July 31. ... Morris' 14-2 record at Busch matches John Tudor's team record set in 1985.