Bad elbow aside, Pujols comes through as Cards stretch streak

ST. LOUIS -- The risk of playing Albert Pujols with a sprained right elbow seems worth the reward for the Cardinals.

Pujols hit his third home run in five games, and Garrett Stephenson worked eight strong innings as the Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos 3-1 Saturday for their sixth straight win.

The Cardinals have come to expect big things from Pujols, the NL rookie of the year in 2001 and the MVP runner-up last year.

"Two years and a month and two days he's been swinging a hot bat," manager Tony La Russa said, miscalculating by a day in May.

The defending NL Central champions are a season-best four games above .500 at 16-12. They're undefeated on their current six-game homestand with one game to go, outscoring their opponents 43-14.

Pujols hit a two-run homer off rookie Claudio Vargas (0-1) in the third inning that banged off a stadium club window just below the upper deck at Busch Stadium, a drive measured at 452 feet. The homer was his sixth of the season and followed an RBI single by J.D. Drew to put the Cardinals ahead 3-1.

"It couldn't have come at a better time, to hit that ball right there," Pujols said. "Tie ballgame, J.D. got a big hit with two outs and then I got a big hit with two outs. I'm pretty excited."

Pujols has gone 10-for-20 with eight RBIs this week to raise his average to .387. Team doctors on April 19 ordered him not to throw for three weeks, but La Russa has used him in the field the last nine games. He hasn't had to test his arm yet, though.

After playing all nine innings at first base in Friday's 8-1 victory, Pujols played left field on Saturday. He was lifted for Miguel Cairo after six innings as a precaution and La Russa said he reminds Pujols before every game not to throw the ball all-out.

"I don't want to try to do something that can set me back," Pujols said. "It won't be three more weeks if I do that again, it's going to be longer."

The Expos missed a chance to tie their best start ever. They're 18-12 this year after going 19-11 in 1979, '85 and '96.

"We weren't very selective up there today," manager Frank Robinson said. "We needed the big hit and I don't mean a base hit. I mean a grand hit, something out of the ballpark."

Stephenson (2-2) allowed one run on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks. The Expos scored in the first on Orlando Cabrera's RBI single, but stranded 12 runners the rest of the way -- including two in the ninth.

"I went out there I had to battle and make pitches and not give in," Stephenson said. "I felt like I did that."

Expos hitters were impressed by Stephenson's soft tosses.

"He had a really good changeup going today," Michael Barrett said after going 0-for-3. "It wasn't like he was throwing as hard as I've seen him throw, but the differential in his changeup and fastball was keeping us off-balance."

Rookie Kiko Calero worked the ninth for his first career save.

Vargas worked six innings in his second career start, allowing three runs on six hits. He retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.

Jim Edmonds was 2-for-4 with a double for the Cardinals, raising his NL-leading average to .405.

Notes: LHP Jeff Fassero served the second and final game of his suspension for throwing at the Diamondbacks' Luis Gonzalez on April 20. ... Cardinals 1B Tino Martinez played for the first time in five games. He served a three-game suspension for fighting with Diamondbacks P Miguel Batista on April 20, then didn't play on Friday. ... The Expos have lost consecutive games for the first time since they were swept by the Braves in Puerto Rico April 15-17. ... The Cardinals scored 14 runs in the first inning the first four games of the homestand, but were blanked in the first on Saturday with Fernando Vina stranded after a leadoff double.