Redbirds get snagged

The Marlins escaped with a 6-5 victory over St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS -- Career pinch-hit leader Lenny Harris added a big one to his total.

The 40-year-old Harris had a three-run go-ahead double off Jason Marquis in the sixth inning, helping the Florida Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 on Monday to keep a second-half surge alive.

"Obviously, age doesn't make a difference," Marquis said. "He wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't good enough. It takes someone special to be put in that role to only see 'X' amount of at-bats a year."

Mike Lowell hit only his second road home run of the season and had three RBIs for the Marlins, who have won five of six. Juan Encarnacion had three hits and scored twice.

"It's a different club from the first half," manager Jack McKeon said. "If you're hitting and scoring runs and everybody's happy, it's a nice clubhouse."

Albert Pujols hit his 29th homer, John Rodriguez had two hits and two RBIs, and So Taguchi had three hits for the Cardinals, who opened a seven-game homestand against NL East opponents. St. Louis is an NL-best 66-39 but only 7-9 against the East.

Jason Marquis (9-9) fell behind 3-0 to Harris with the bases loaded and one out before Harris lined a 3-1 pitch down the right-field line to cap a four-run inning that erased a 4-2 deficit. The hit was Harris' major league-leading 205th as a pinch-hitter. Harris is 12-for-39 (.308) in the pinch for the Marlins with seven RBIs, and has only eight at-bats as a position player.

This was probably his biggest hit since a bases-clearing double Aug. 18, 2004, that gave the Dodgers' Eric Gagne only his second blown save that season.

"It was big," Harris said. "He was struggling a little bit, throwing some balls pretty much way, way away from the plate. Fortunately, I hit the ball good and hit it in the right spot."

Harris, who was hitless in his previous four pinch-hit appearances, is 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Ismael Valdez (1-0) allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings for his first victory since Sept. 28 at Montreal. He has made three appearances, two of them starts, after recovering from a hairline fracture of his right leg and this was his longest outing.

Pinch-hitter John Mabry's sacrifice fly off Antonio Alfonseca cut the gap to a run before Todd Jones worked a perfect the ninth for his 21st save in 23 chances. Jones has 207 career saves, one more than the Cardinals' Jason Isringhausen.

Marquis was 1-2 with a 2.80 ERA in five July starts, but is 1-6 with a 5.10 in nine appearances since June 15 after allowing six runs on nine hits in six innings. He failed in his third attempt to become the last member of the Cardinals' rotation to reach double figures in victories.

"He got a couple of breaking balls not in perfect spots," manager Tony La Russa said. "He just didn't get away with anything but he made a lot of good pitches."

Lowell, who has only six homers this year after hitting 27 in 2004, hit a two-run shot in the second and added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Pujols homered in the first, and walked and scored on Rodriguez's two-run double in the third. Marquis, who leads NL pitchers with 19 hits, a .333 average and nine RBIs, had a run-scoring double in the second.

Notes: Pujols is 13-for-29 (.448) with three homers during a seven-game hitting streak. His first-inning shot ended a string of nine straight games in which the Marlins scored first, going 6-3 in that stretch. ... Lowell hit his first road homer on July 22 at San Francisco. His homer was the first in five games for the Marlins. ... Jim Edmonds, who had homered in the previous two games, doubled twice. ... Ron Villone, acquired by Florida from the Mariners on the trade deadline, had one strikeout in 1 1-3 hitless innings. ... Cardinals third baseman Abraham Nunez robbed Lowell of extra bases in the ninth, making a diving stab and turning it into a double play.