Westbrook, Cardinals tame Mets

NEW YORK -- Jake Westbrook helped his teammates beat the heat -- and the Mets -- on a sweltering get-away day at Citi Field.

Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first and Westbrook had the Mets pounding the ball into the ground over eight excellent innings to help St. Louis beat New York 6-2 on Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep and snap a three-game skid.

With the temperature already at 90 when the first pitch was thrown at 11:13 a.m., Westbrook (8-4) worked efficiently (90 pitches) and rapidly while keeping his infielders busy. Just as important, he let them quickly get back to the dugout and out of the scorching sun.

"That's the way he works all the time. This guy don't mess around," Pujols said. "Working fast, keeping the ball down. He had his sinker going today."

Westbrook recorded 17 outs on groundballs, including two double plays, and allowed only four hits and two runs. He walked one and struck out three, leading the Cardinals to only their second win since the All-Star break in a tidy 2 hours, 7 minutes.

"I think everybody appreciated it," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

Pujols drove a pitch left up in the strike zone off the facade of the second deck in left field for his 21st home run of the season and a 2-0 lead against Jonathon Niese (9-8).

What was the pitch Pujols sent flying?

"To tell you the truth, I don't even know," he said. "I think it was the same pitch I pulled fouled earlier in the at-bat."

Westbrook, who came in with an ERA of 5.26 in his first full season with St. Louis, breezed through the first three innings.

"My stuff was the same. My command was better," he said. "I was able to harness it."

The Mets managed to get only one ball out of the infield against the sinkerballer. He retired the first nine batters.

Jose Reyes put an end to that. He led off the fourth with his league-leading 16th triple, a drive high off the wall in left-center. Justin Turner followed with a grounder to short that cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1.

The Cardinals came right back with three in the fifth with the help of some shoddy Mets defense.

After a double by No. 8 hitter Daniel Descalso and a walk to the pitcher, Nick Punto grounded wide of first base. First baseman Lucas Duda fielded the hopper but his throw to second glanced off Westbrook's left shoulder and into the outfield, which allowed a run to score.

Jon Jay followed with a single up the middle that hit second base to drive in one run, and center fielder Angel Pagan gave the Cardinals another run when he threw behind Jay at first with nobody covering for the Mets. Though St. Louis first base coach Dave McKay was in perfect position to field the toss, he let it skid toward the dugout.

The stray throw allowed Punto to score all the way from first and make it 5-1.