Cards punctuate sweep with three more home runs

Pujols, Edmonds, Walker all go deep in a 7-2 victory over San Diego.

By R.B. Fallstrom ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds homered in the first inning and Jeff Suppan won his fifth straight start, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 7-2 victory Thursday night.

Pujols and Edmonds each homered three times in the series for the Cardinals, who have won six in a row and 11 of 13 and have the majors' best record at 89-44. Pujols was 4-for-4 with two RBIs, 8-for-12 with six RBIs in the series and has homered in four straight games.

His 43rd homer matched his career best set last season, and Edmonds gave the Cardinals three 100-RBI men for the second time in franchise history -- the second time in two years. Scott Rolen leads the NL with 116 RBIs, Pujols has 106 and Edmonds 100 after Pujols, Rolen and Edgar Renteria reached triple-digits last year.

Larry Walker added a 438-foot homer in the seventh for the Cardinals, who are 33-6 against the Padres the last six seasons -- 19-2 at home -- and have swept them at least once each year. They powered their way through the series with 19 extra-base hits, including 10 homers.

Overall, they have 10 three-game sweeps and one of four games. After losing 22 of their first 45 games, they've lost just 22 of the last 88.

Suppan (14-6) topped his previous career best for victories set last year and tied Matt Morris and Chris Carpenter for the staff lead this year. In six-plus innings, he allowed two runs on seven hits.

He also got his third hit in 48 at-bats this season. Suppan had been 0-for-43 before getting two hits in his last start at Pittsburgh on Aug. 27.

Jake Peavy (11-4) was victimized by a dropped foul pop on Pujols' at-bat that opened the door for the Cardinals' three-run first. After catcher Ramon Hernandez bobbled the pop-up near the screen behind the plate on the first pitch, Pujols homered for the third straight game on an 0-2 belt-high fastball.

Rolen followed with a walk and Edmonds hit his 39th homer and his eighth in eight games. Pujols added an RBI single in the third that scored Tony Womack, who singled and stole second, for a 4-1 lead.

The Padres narrowed the gap to two runs in the seventh when pinch-hitter Kerry Robinson doubled and ended up scoring on a wild pitch by Cal Eldred. The Cardinals quickly answered with four consecutive extra-base hits: Walker's 12th homer, a triple by Pujols and RBI doubles by Rolen and Edmonds to make it 7-2.

Peavy who had been 6-0 with a 2.05 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break, lasted six innings but lost for the first time since July 7 to Houston.

Notes: Cardinals C Yadier Molina made his first start since injuring his left ankle in a home-plate collision Saturday, but left after two innings with a bruised right knee from a foul tip. ... Phil Nevin was 0-for-10 with four strikeouts in the series. ... Ray Lankford fouled out in the seventh in his first at-bat since July 21. He was activated from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday.