St. Louis coasts to 10-4 win in Atlanta

Rolen hit two home runs, became the first NL player to reach 100 RBIs this year.

By Keith Parsons ~ The Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Scott Rolen homered twice to become the first NL player to reach 100 RBIs this season and Danny Haren won for the first time in more than a year, leading the St. Louis Cardinals past the Atlanta Braves 10-4 Sunday night.

Albert Pujols added another home run as the Cardinals won two of three in the battle of division leaders, handing Atlanta its first series loss since the end of June. St. Louis has the best road record in the major leagues at 40-19.

Rolen hit a pair of two-run drives off John Thomson (9-8) and reached 100 RBIs for the third straight season.

Chipper Jones hit a solo homer for the Braves, giving him 1,000 RBIs in his career. He joined Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Dale Murphy as the only players in franchise history to reach that total.

Haren (1-2) limited the Braves to three runs and seven hits in five innings to win for the first time since he beat Pittsburgh on Aug. 11 last year. He started in place of Chris Carpenter, who was skipped because of stiffness in his lower back.

In his previous start, the 23-year-old Haren lasted only 3 2-3 innings against the Chicago Cubs, giving up 10 runs and 10 hits.

Thomson, who lost for the first time in seven starts since July 3, gave up eight runs -- four earned -- and seven hits in four innings. Atlanta made three errors, including two in a six-run second inning, to increase its total to 97, the third-most in the NL.

Atlanta was without right fielder J.D. Drew, who sat out with a strained right quadriceps.

Rafael Furcal singled off Haren to start the first and scored on a double by Marcus Giles. But Haren retired Jones on a grounder and struck out Johnny Estrada to end the threat.

Thomson bobbled a sacrifice bunt by Haren that loaded the bases with no outs in the second. Tony Womack hit into a forceout at home, but Estrada threw wildly to first and allowed two runs to score.

Larry Walker singled home two runs with a grounder that got past Furcal at shortstop, and Rolen made it 6-1 with his first home run.Noteworthy

It was Rolen's fifth multihomer game this year, the 18th of his career.

St. Louis LF Reggie Sanders was credited with a stolen base in the third when he went to second after a popout by Mike Matheny. The Braves infielders turned their backs to him, so Sanders scampered into second without a throw.