Edmonds' HRs lift Birds

P Center fielder's walkoff blast gives Cardinals a 6-3 victory over Pirates.

By R.B. Fallstrom ~ The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Jim Edmonds hit his second homer of the game, a three-run shot in the ninth inning that sent the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 Thursday night.

Edmonds won it with his 32nd home run, connecting with one out. He got a break two pitches earlier when third baseman Jose Hernandez muffed his foul pop near the stands, though no error was charged.

Miguel Cairo homered and Scott Rolen was 2-for-4 with an RBI double as the Cardinals took two of three from the Pirates. St. Louis won three of four at Pittsburgh last week.

The Pirates tied it in the eighth on a two-out, two-run triple by Abraham Nunez off Jason Simontacchi. Nunez fouled off several pitches before his drive to the gap in right-center.

Tike Redman tripled for the fourth time in only 79 at-bats off Cal Eldred (7-4) to start the Pittsburgh ninth. After walking Jason Kendall, Eldred kept the score at 3-all when Brian Giles took a called third strike, Matt Stairs fouled out and Craig Wilson flied out to the warning track.

So Taguchi singled off Mike Lincoln (1-4) and Kerry Robinson reached on an infield hit to start the bottom of the ninth. Edmonds hit a drive over the right-field wall off Joe Beimel.

Cardinals starter Woody Williams threw 134 pitches in 94-degree heat, 10 more than he'd ever thrown before in 209 career starts. He allowed seven hits in 6 2-3 innings with six strikeouts and two walks.

Kendall was 3-for-4 with an RBI double for the Pirates. Back-to-back doubles by Redman and Kendall with two out in the seventh cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1 and chased Williams, who allowed seven hits in 6 2-3 innings with six strikeouts and two walks.

Nelson Figueroa lasted five innings for the Pirates, giving up two runs on five hits in his third start since being called up from Triple-A Nashville.

Cairo walked with one out in the first and scored on Rolen's two-out double to put the Cardinals ahead. Edmonds led off the fifth with his second homer in 56 at-bats since July 18. Cairo led off the seventh against Mike Gonzalez with his fourth homer, and second against the Pirates, to make it 3-1.

Notes: Kendall struck out for the first time in 62 plate appearances when he took a called third strike in the first. It had been the longest current streak in the majors. ... Reggie Sanders was out of the lineup after hitting two homers in the fifth inning on Wednesday. ... Rolen has 250 career doubles. ... Williams averages an NL-leading 111 pitches per start. ... Williams hasn't had a four-game losing streak since Sept. 17, 2000 to April 2, 2001. ... Robinson ran the Cardinals out of a scoring threat in the third when he tried to stretch a leadoff double to three bases, easily getting thrown out. St. Louis had a walk and a hit later in the inning. ... Rolen had 19 RBIs against the Pirates, six of them on Tuesday. ... Eldred has been the winning pitcher in the Cardinals' last three home victories. ... Edmonds has 20 multihomer games, five this season.