Pujols slams loss on Pirates

PITTSBURGH -- Albert Pujols had done just about everything possible as a rookie, except win a game with a grand slam. He has now.

Pujols hit his first grand slam -- a go-ahead shot in the ninth that also gave him the NL record for extra base hits by a rookie -- and drove in five runs for the second time this week as St. Louis won its eighth in a row, beating Pittsburgh 9-5 Friday night.

The Cardinals squandered leads of 4-0 and 5-4, only to win it on Pujols' 36th homer. He also doubled in a run in the first and has 83 extra-base hits, one more than Johnny Frederick's total for Brooklyn in 1929. Hal Trosky of Cleveland set the major league record with 89 in 1934.

"He's got 125 RBIs, and 100 of them have been just like today," manager Tony La Russa said. "He's been incredible. I'm running out of ways to describe him.

Just as the Pirates' Omar Olivares is running out of ways to get him out. Pujols' shot came off Olivares (6-9) and followed a pair of singles and a walk. Pujols is 4-for-5 with two homers against Olivares this season -- 4-for-4 in Pittsburgh, with two homers in his last three at-bats against him there.

"I wasn't thinking grand slam, the worst thing I could have done there was try to hit a long ball," Pujols said. "I just wanted to hit a sacrifice fly ... keep the ball off the ground and not hit into a double play."

Pujols also had five RBIs Tuesday in a 9-4 victory over Milwaukee, and has 14 RBIs in the five games since the Cardinals resumed play Monday following the majors' weeklong break.

Apparently, he likes hitting with runners in scoring position.

"Every time," he said. "When somebody is on second base, I think I need to drive him in. The last time up, I knew I needed to drive the run in to win the game."

"He hit a good pitch, too, it was down and out," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "But he hit it out, so I guess it was a mistake pitch."

Luther Hackman (1-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for his second career victory as St. Louis won for the 11th time in 12 games and dealt Pittsburgh its sixth consecutive loss.

If the Cardinals reach the playoffs -- they lead the NL wild card race -- they will have the last-place Pirates to thank. They are 10-2 against them, 5-0 in Pittsburgh, and have won 17 of their last 20 against the Pirates.

The Cardinals had to work for this one, though, after outscoring the Pirates 32-6 in their first four games in PNC Park. They opened a 4-0 lead with the help of a deficient Pittsburgh defense as Darryl Kile, who hadn't allowed the Pirates a run in 21 innings this season, took a shutout into the sixth.

But the Pirates tied it before making the first out of the inning as consecutive singles by Chad Hermansen, Jason Kendall and Jack Wilson led to Brian Giles' three-run homer into the right-field seats, his 35th.

Giles also hit 35 homers last season and has 109 homers in his first three Pirates seasons.

"My heart goes out to my kids," McClendon said. "They give me everything they've got every day. They battled back and they had it in their hands."

Giles could have put Pittsburgh ahead again in the seventh, after Drew's RBI single put the Cardinals ahead 5-4 in the top of the inning. Jack Wilson's two-out RBI double off reliever Mike Timlin put runners on second and third with two out, but Giles hit a low line drive that first baseman Mark McGwire speared with a backhanded diving stop.

"Somebody asked me before the game how we could be 11th (in the NL) in defense, and I said that's very misleading," La Russa said. "I think we have an exceptional defensive club."

St. Louis scored in the first on consecutive doubles by Drew and Pujols, who extended his major league record for RBIs by a rookie to 125 with his five-RBI night. The Cardinals added three runs in the fifth on Craig Paquette's RBI single, third baseman Aramis Ramirez's run-scoring error and Bronson Arroyo's wild pitch.

NOTES: Pirates rookie Craig Willson, who needs one pinch-hit homer to tie the NL record of seven set last year by the Dodgers' Dave Hansen, nearly got it in the eighth. His drive to the deepest part of the park was caught by left fielder Pujols just in front of the 410-foot sign in left-center. ... Paquette, batting leadoff for only the third time this season, was 3-for-4 and had a sacrifice bunt in the ninth. Cardinals second baseman Fernando Vina sat out with a bruised right hand. ... The Pirates have lost 10 in a row to the Cardinals in Pittsburgh since last season. ... The Cardinals haven't lost and the Pirates haven't won since play resumed this week. ... The Pirates must win eight of their final 14 to avoid a 100-loss season.