Cards thwart Reds' bid for 1st

ST. LOUIS -- Jason Simontacchi pitched seven impressive innings, and Placido Polanco hit a tiebreaking RBI double as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 Friday night in a showdown for first place in the NL Central.

Albert Pujols drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who had lost three of four after the death of pitcher Darryl Kile last Saturday. St. Louis is 7-3 against Cincinnati and two games ahead in the division after snapping the Reds' three-game winning streak.

Fernando Vina doubled with one out in the seventh off Chris Reitsma (3-6), and Polanco followed with another double to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.

Steve Kline worked the eighth, striking out Russell Branyan with runners on first and third for the final out of the inning. Branyan snapped the bat in two over his knee.

Jason Isringhausen came on and hit Reggie Taylor with a pitch leading off the ninth, and Taylor was sacrificed to second.

But catcher Mike Matheny threw out Taylor trying to steal third with Austin Kearns batting, and Isringhausen struck out Todd Walker with a runner on for his 17th save in 19 chances.

Isringhausen recovered after blowing his second save the night before, giving up two runs in the ninth inning of an 11-inning loss to the Brewers.

Juan Encarnacion hit a two-run homer, his 15th, in the fourth for the Reds. Encarnacion was 3-for-3 with a walk and has 13 hits in his last 30 at-bats.

Encarnacion's homer was the only damage against Simontacchi (6-1), a 29-year-old rookie.

Simontacchi is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA against the Reds.

Pujols had an RBI double in the third for the game's first run, and a run-scoring single in the fifth to tie it at 2. Pujols has 22 RBIs in 22 games this month and is batting .429 (15-for-35) against Reds pitching this year with three homers and six RBIs.