Cards extend hex on Reds

St. Louis improved to 12-2 against Cincinnati this season with a 10-5 victory.

By R.B. Fallstrom ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Albert Pujols homered for the fifth time in four games and tied his career high with five RBIs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night.

Pujols, 9-for-18 with 11 RBIs in the last four games for the Cardinals, also scored his NL-leading 100th and 101st runs. He has scored 100 or more runs in each of his first four major league seasons.

Pujols hit a two-run double in the first, doubled and scored in the seventh, and hit a three-run homer off John Riedling in the eighth. It's the second five-RBI game of the year and fifth of his career for Pujols, who also did it July 20 at Chicago.

Scott Rolen drove in two runs for the Cardinals, giving him a major league-leading 104 RBIs. He had a run-scoring double in the third and an RBI single in the seventh, and has 24 RBIs in his last 26 games.

The Cardinals have won 16 of 20 and lead the NL Central by 14 games, their biggest advantage since they were 14 games in front on Sept. 3, 1968, when they won a pennant.

Pujols got the Cardinals started with a two-run double in the first off Aaron Harang (7-5). After a lead once as large as four runs was shaved to one in a two-run seventh, he keyed a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out double off the center-field wall against Todd Van Poppel.

Rolen followed with a run-scoring single and went to second on a throw to the plate, and scored on Edgar Renteria's bloop hit to right center to make it 6-3.

John Mabry added a sacrifice fly in a four-run eighth against three pitchers.

The Cardinals are 12-2 against the Reds, including a pair of three-game sweeps. It's the Reds' worst showing against a team since they were 1-11 against the Padres in 1998.

Jeff Suppan (11-6) blanked the Reds until Sean Casey hit his 19th homer with two outs in the sixth. That ended a 14-inning scoreless for the right-hander, who allowed two hits in eight shutout innings at Florida in his last start on Aug. 11.

The Reds chased Suppan with one out in the seventh on a single by Jason La Rue and a walk by Felipe Lopez. Pinch-hitter Juan Castro followed with a two-run triple off Ray King to cut the gap to 4-3, but King recovered to get the final two outs and preserve the lead.

Jason Isringhausen got the last four outs for his 33rd save in 38 chances, despite giving up solo homers to Darren Bragg and Castro in the ninth.

Harang lasted five innings, giving up four runs -- three earned -- on six hits.

The Cardinals started the game with singles by Tony Womack and Roger Cedeno, and Pujols hammered a 3-2 pitch off the left-field wall on one hop for a two-run double.

After Rolen's RBI double in the third, he scored on Lopez's two-out throwing error from short on Renteria's grounder to make it 4-0.

The Reds are 22-40 since June 6, when they led the NL Central by two games. They're 21 1/2 games back, their largest deficit of the season.

Notes: Reds SS Barry Larkin (oblique) missed his fourth straight start. ... Suppan was 0-for-2 with a sacrifice and is 0-for-46 at the plate since his last hit on July 28, 2003. That hit came off Brett Tomko in St. Louis when Suppan played for the Pirates. ... Suppan is 0-for-41 this year, and Harang is only slightly better at the plate, going 1-for-41. ... Cardinals starters are a major league-best 57-29. Last year, the rotation combined for 42 victories.