Benes keeps his comeback rolling

ST. LOUIS -- Andy Benes kept his second-half comeback rolling Monday night, allowing two hits in seven scoreless innings in the St. Louis Cardinals' 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Albert Pujols drove in four runs for the Cardinals, who have won nine of 10 and lead the NL Central by five games over Houston.

Pujols hit a three-run homer off Kip Wells in the third inning, his 29th, after getting a sacrifice fly in the first.

The Pirates have lost 10 of 13.

Benes (3-3) considered retiring after going on the disabled list April 15 with an arthritic right knee that had taken the zip off his fastball and flattened his slider.

Since his return on July 16, the former power pitcher has featured more offspeed stuff and learned a split-finger fastball from new teammate Chuck Finley.

Benes, who struck out seven and walked two to beat the Pirates for the second straight start, had a 10.80 ERA when he went on the DL. Since his return it's 1.87 with only 24 hits allowed in 43 1-3 innings.

In his last five starts, Benes, who turns 35 on Tuesday, is 3-0 with a 1.14 ERA.

Benes got a scare to start the game when Pirates leadoff batter Pokey Reese hit a liner off his right hip. But he recovered to easily throw out Reese and allowed only a pair of singles -- by Wells and Reese with one out in the third.

Wells (11-11) has lost to the Cardinals and Benes his last two outings and has dropped five of his last six decisions overall. He lasted 6 2-3 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Pujols homered in three of four games at Pittsburgh last week. J.D. Drew and Jim Edmonds singled ahead of Pujols' shot to left on Wells' first pitch for a 4-0 lead in the third.

Pujols has 97 RBIs, second in the NL, including 13 in the last nine games.

In his last five games against the Pirates, Pujols is 12-for-22 with four homers, 10 RBIs and eight runs.

Edmonds added his 24th homer off Joe Beimel in the eighth and Edgar Renteria hit a two-run double later in the inning.

The Pirates scored twice in the ninth, highlighted by Craig Wilson's RBI single.Noteworthy

***Benes has a 13-7 career record against the Pirates, and he's 30-15 lifetime at Busch Stadium.

***Cardinals manager Tony La Russa tied Bill McKechnie for 10th place on the managerial wins list with 1,896. He has 576 in his seventh season with the Cardinals after winning 798 in Oakland and 522 with the Chicago White Sox.

***Jason Kendall struck out for the first time in 53 plate appearances to end the Pirates third. He's the toughest batter to fan in the major leagues with 18 strikeouts in 429 at-bats.

***Brian Giles, who strained his right calf in a slide on Friday, missed his third straight start. A Pirates spokesman said Giles remained day-to-day.