Cards share first

St. Louis moves into a tie with Cubs after 11-7 victory over Reds.

By R.B. Fallstrom ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Tino Martinez went 3-for-4 with a three-run home run and rookie Bo Hart had three more hits in the Cardinals' 11-7 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday night.

Woody Williams won his 10th game, Jim Edmonds had four RBIs and Albert Pujols had four hits for the Cardinals, who took two of three from the Reds after entering the series 1-6 against Cincinnati. The Cardinals finished 3-3 on a six-game homestand.

The win also moved the Cardinals into a tie for first place with the Chicago Cubs, who lost earlier in the day to the Milwaukee Brewers. Both teams have identical 41-36 records and are a half game ahead of the Houston Astros.

Hart was 3-for-5 with an RBI single and a run scored, and is batting .514 (18-for-35) since being called up seven games ago. Martinez homered, doubled and singled in his first three at-bats and was 5-for-14 in the series with three homers and six RBIs.

Martinez hit his ninth homer, and Edmonds also had a three-run shot in a seven-run second off Jimmy Anderson (1-5) that put the Cardinals ahead 7-2. Anderson was left in for five innings to save a depleted bullpen, giving up 11 runs on 15 hits.

Anderson has lost all three starts since being called up on June 16, giving up 19 earned runs in 18 innings.

Williams (10-2) won despite his shakiest outing of the season, giving up seven runs on 10 hits in six-plus innings. He's 16-3 for his career at Busch Stadium, but his ERA rose from 2.55 to 2.97.

Williams entered the game with a 1.53 ERA at home, best in the NL.

Pujols was 4-for-5 to raise his major league-leading average to .394. He's 15-for-26 during a five-game hitting streak and this was his fifth straight multihit game and the 35th of the season, the best in the majors.

Jose Guillen had a two-run homer in the fifth for the Reds, who have lost five of six at the start of a 12-game trip. The Reds briefly made it interesting with two more runs in the seventh to cut the gap to four, but Steve Kline escaped a bases-loaded, one-out situation by striking out Reggie Taylor and getting Jason LaRue, who was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, to ground out.

Notes: Pujols has one more multihit game than teammate Edgar Renteria, who has led the NL in that category much of the season. He also leads the NL with 112 hits and 71 runs, and is tied for first with 68 RBIs. ... Renteria snapped an 0-for-13 slump with an RBI double in the second and was 1-for-3. ... Williams is 65-39 at night with a 3.58 ERA at night and 19-30 with a 4.89 ERA in day games. ... Reds 1B Adam Dunn was struck above the right eye by the ball while stealing third in the second but stayed in the game. ... The Cardinals' seven-run second matches their season best. ... Sean Casey was 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly, ending a run of five straight multihit games in which he was 12-for-22.