Ankiel, LaRue power Cards to 11-2 rout of Pirates

[August 21, 2008]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Rick Ankiel and Jason LaRue hit two-run home runs and Todd Wellemeyer beat the Pittsburgh Pirates for the third time this season in the St. Louis Cardinals' 11-2 victory on Wednesday night.

Skip Schumaker had three hits and Wellemeyer (11-4) won his fourth straight decision and added an RBI single for St. Louis, which won for only the fourth time in its last 12 games at home.

The Cardinals are an NL-best 37-29 on the road and 34-29 at home after splitting a two-game series with the Pirates.

Ryan Doumit had three hits including his 13th homer for Pittsburgh, but Jason Davis (1-3) failed to make it out of the fourth coming off two straight effective starts. Doumit is hitting .538 (14-for-26) with five RBIs against the Cardinals and leads NL catchers with a .333 average.

Ankiel, who has moved from center field to left field the last eight games to protect an abdominal strain, got to trot around the bases after hitting a 2-2 pitch over the fence in the third to put the Cardinals ahead 5-2. Schumaker had three singles, an RBI and scored twice from the leadoff slot and is batting 14-for-30 (.467) during a seven-game hitting streak.

LaRue, a late lineup addition at catcher when Yadier Molina was scratched with a bruised left foot, added a two-run homer in the seventh off Craig Hansen and was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Albert Pujols was 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

The three-homer outburst came one day after the first game without a long ball at Busch Stadium since May 14, also against the Pirates, a stretch of 38 games.

The only damage against Wellemeyer in a five-inning, 95-pitch stint was Doumit's homer, although the Pirates had runners in scoring position in every inning. He's 3-0 with a 3.45 ERA against Pittsburgh this year, all the victories coming at home, and is 4-1 with a 3.42 ERA against the Pirates during his career.

Wellemeyer drove in his fourth run of the season with an opposite-field RBI single just inside the first-base line in the second.

First baseman Adam LaRoche's fielding error on a grounder by Adam Kennedy led to two unearned runs in the Cardinals' three-run fourth that made it 8-2.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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