Pujols' homer lifts Cardinals past Expos

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- Albert Pujols homered leading off the ninth inning, and John Mabry was 4-for-4 and four RBIs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Montreal Expos 5-4 Wednesday night.

Pujols hit his 31st homer of the season, a drive off Chad Cordero (3-2) that capped the Cardinals' comeback from a 3-0 deficit.

Julian Tavarez (3-3) pitched a scoreless ninth for the NL Central leader, which has won seven of nine.

Alex Gonzalez tied the game 4-4 in eighth with a double off Steve Kline that scored Terrmel Sledge, who reached on a two-base throwing error by second baseman Tony Womack.

St. Louis made three errors in all. Mike Mathany's bad throw in the eighth was his first in 252 games since Aug. 1, 2002, at Florida, a record streak for catchers.

Brian Schneider put Montreal ahead with an RBI double in the second, and Expos starter Livan Hernandez hit a two-run double in the fourth to make it 3-0 after Schneider lined a ball off Suppan's shoulder for a single.

Suppan allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

Mabry put St. Louis ahead with his two-run homer in the fifth and two-run double in the seventh.

The start of the game was delayed 47 minutes by rain.