Cubs beat up on Cardinals 7-0

CHICAGO -- Mark Prior refused to let a long rain delay mess up his day. After a four-hour wait, Prior was ready to pitch, even as a Wrigley Field matinee turned into a night game.

And once again, he was dominant.

"I just relaxed, I took a nap and had dinner and watched the Red Sox," Prior said Monday after winning his sixth game in a row by pitching the Chicago Cubs to 7-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Prior, 6-0 with an 0.57 ERA since coming off the disabled list Aug. 5, scattered five hits in eight innings and also had an RBI single in the Cubs' six-run fifth-inning outburst against Woody Williams.

He walked three and struck out eight in a 131-pitch outing in a game delayed 4 hours, 17 minutes by rain at the start.

"I wanted to stay in, but I had 130 pitches. No reason to go more," Prior (14-5) said.

The win moved the Cubs to within 1 1/2 games of the Cardinals and Houston, who are tied for the NL Central lead.

The Cardinals and Cubs are meeting for the final time this season and play a rare day-night doubleheader today as part of the five-game series. Prior gave Chicago's bullpen a rest Monday with Kyle Farnsworth throwing the final inning.

Prior can't offer a concrete explanation for his success the last month. He was on the disabled list July 11 to Aug. 4 after bruising his shoulder in a basepath collision with Atlanta's Marcus Giles.

"I don't feel different, the stakes are higher. Maybe that makes me focus a little more. Mechanically I didn't feel great again," Prior said.

'I can't say why I'm doing I guess all right or why I'm not," he added.

"It's baseball, it's a game of streaks and fortunately I'm on the positive side of one."

Williams (14-7) is not. He failed to get his 15th win for the seventh time, and is winless since July 26 with four losses and three no decisions in that stretch.

He didn't blame the delay, just himself.

"Everybody has the same wait. It had nothing to do with my performance at all," said Williams, who gave up 10 hits and six runs in 4 1-3 innings.

"There is no excuse, I put us in a hole. I lost the game for us. That's that."

Sammy Sosa hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth. When Moises Alou dumped another single in front of center fielder Jim Edmonds, Sosa challenged his arm and raced to third just ahead of the throw.

Then, the Cubs took off.

Eric Karros followed with an RBI single, Aramis Ramirez walked to load the bases, Ramon Martinez and hit another run-scoring single to make it 2-0. Damian Miller delivered a sacrifice fly and then Prior finished Williams with a line-drive RBI single over short.

Jeff Fassero relieved and Kenny Lofton got an infield RBI single to third before Tony Womack slapped an RBI double to make it 6-0.

Karros hit his 11th homer in the sixth for Chicago.

"They scored some runs, you give him a lead and he's amazing," the Cards' Fernando Vina said of Prior.

The Cubs stranded eight in the first four innings against Williams, leaving the bases loaded in the first when Karros hit into a fielder's choice and Ramirez flied out.

Sunday's game

Albert Pujols homered twice and tied a career high with five RBIs, and Sterling Hitchcock threw six shutout innings in the Cardinals' 5-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

Pujols has 37 homers this season, and 108 for his career to move past Joe DiMaggio for third place on the list for most homers in a player's first three years.

"I'm not thinking about that now," Pujols said. "After the season's over, I'll look back at it, but September's going to be a tough month. I need to finish strong. We need to finish strong."

Hitchcock (2-0) allowed three hits, walked one and struck out four in his second appearance and first start for the Cardinals, who won for the fourth time in five games.

Hitchcock, making his second start of the season and first since being traded from the New York Yankees on August 22, retired the first 10 batters he faced before Ray Olmedo singled to left with one out in the fourth.

"He threw six great innings for us, and we're not struggling with the bullpen like we were earlier in the year," Pujols said. "All our starters have to do now is throw six good innings."

Cal Eldred, Steve Kline and Russ Springer each pitched one inning of scoreless relief to complete the shutout.

Danny Serafini (0-2), who made his second start since signing with Cincinnati out of the Mexican League, allowed two runs, four hits and three walks while striking out three Cardinals in six innings.

Miguel Cairo led off the sixth with a single to center. Pujols followed with his 36th homer -- the first ball to bounce off the roof of the batter's eye building in center field and reach the concourse behind it at Great American Ball Park. The homer traveled an estimated 477 feet.

"As long as they go out, I'll take it," Pujols said. "It doesn't matter to me how far they go."