Redbirds help playoff bid with big 8-2 victory

ST. LOUIS -- Albert Pujols hit two home runs and Brett Tomko pitched a six-hitter and had two hits as the Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 10-2 Wednesday night, giving Tony La Russa his 2, 000th win as a manager.

J.D. Drew and Scott Rolen also homered for St. Louis, which remained 2 1/2 games back of first-place Houston and moved within 1 1/2 of Chicago in the NL Central.

La Russa became the eighth manager in major league history to reach 2,000 wins. In his 25th season -- eighth with St. Louis, La Russa is 2,000-1,782.

The 58-year-old La Russa won 522 games with the Chicago White Sox from 1979-86; 798 games with the Oakland A's from 1986-95; and 680 games with the Cardinals since the start of the 1996 season.

Tomko (12-8) didn't allow a base runner until Garett Atkins singled with one out in the fourth inning. He retired the last nine to finish his second complete game of the season and seventh overall. Tomko struck out eight and didn't walk a batter. He threw 109 pitches -- 84 for strikes.

Tomko went 2-for-3 to raise his batting average to .291 and drove in a run.

Pujols hit a two-run homer off Colorado starter Scott Elarton (3-4) as part of a five-run fourth. The inning also featured Drew's towering 471-foot homer, his 14th, into the upper deck in right-field -- just the third ball hit into the upper deck at Busch Stadium this season.

Pujols takes home run lead

Pujols also homered well over the center-field fence off reliever Adam Bernero in the seventh and raised his NL-leading average to .368. He now has a league-leading 41 homers, one better than San Francisco's Barry Bonds, who played later Wednesday. And his three RBI's gave him 121, eight behind Preston Wilson, who drove in one run for the Rockies.

Rolen hit his 27th homer over the center-field fence with two outs in the third. He needs four RBIs to reach 100 for the fourth time in his career.

Charles Johnson hit his 18th homer off Tomko in the fifth. It was the 32nd homer allowed by Tomko this season, most in the league.