Cards win first AL duel

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Albert Pujols returned from a hamstring injury and drove in a run, and John Mabry homered and had five RBIs in the Cardinals' 12-7 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

Reggie Sanders homered had three hits for the Cardinals, who have a major league-best 22-11 record on the road.

Jeff Suppan (6-5) gave up four runs, two earned, in six innings to improve to 5-0 lifetime against Texas.

Brad Fullmer, Laynce Nix and Alfonso Soriano hit solo homers for Texas, whose three-game winning streak ended.

Pujols, the designated hitter, had been out of the lineup after straining his left hamstring running the bases Sunday. He finished 1-for-5, including an RBI single in the third.

Pujols had plenty of help from his teammates as the Cardinals had 15 hits and scored 10 or more for the third time in seven games.

Texas starter Juan Dominguez (1-2) struggled in first outing since picking up his first win in the majors last Saturday. He gave up five runs -- four earned -- in 3 1-3 innings.

Scott Rolen drove in his major league-leading 64th run in the first with a single that scored Tony Womack. Pujols' RBI single in the third made it 2-0.

The Cardinals broke it open with three runs in the fourth on run-scoring hits by Edgar Renteria, Sanders and Mabry.

After Fullmer's homer brought Texas within 5-1 in the fourth, the Cardinals scored three unearned runs in the fifth thanks to Soriano's error on Pujols' grounder.

The former Yankees second baseman also had an error in the third.

Mabry capped the inning with a two-run single that gave St. Louis an 8-1 lead.

Nix's homer brought Texas within 8-2 in the fifth.

The Rangers scored two unearned runs off an error by Mabry to bring Texas within 8-4.

Sanders hit a one-out solo shot to give St. Louis a 9-4 lead in the seventh. Womack added an RBI single.

Mabry got his third hit of the game in the ninth, a two-run homer to make it 12-5.

St. Louis' Ray Lankford, who struck out four times, was ejected by plate umpire Rob Drake after being called out on strikes in the seventh.

Notes: This is St. Louis' first interleague game of the season, and its first with Texas. ... Rangers SS Michael Young had two hits for his 28th multihit game of the season.