Pujols hits 2 homers, Cardinals sweep Mets 12-8

[April 24, 2009]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Albert Pujols homered twice and Kyle Lohse hung on for another win as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Mets 12-8 Thursday to complete a three-game sweep.

Rick Ankiel homered and doubled twice and Skip Schumaker hit a pair of RBI doubles as the Cardinals punished Livan Hernandez and won their seventh in a row at home. The Mets lost their fourth straight overall.

St. Louis led 11-3 after six innings en route to sweeping the Mets in a three-game series at home for the first time since Aug. 6-8, 2004.

Carlos Beltran had three hits, including a three-run homer, after moving up two spots in the Mets' batting order to the third slot. Ryan Church hit a two-run homer and David Wright, who switched places with Beltran in the lineup, had two hits.

Mets starters allowed 16 earned in 14 2-3 innings in the series, a 9.82 ERA, and only retired one batter past the fifth inning. Hernandez (1-1) gave up all three homers and allowed seven runs and nine hits in 4 1-3 innings.

Pujols hit a solo homer to right in the first inning and connected for a two-run shot to center in the fifth. He has six homers this year and 25th career multihomer games, including two this season.

Pujols added an infield hit and scored four times. He increased his NL-leading RBI total to 21, leaving him two shy of 1,000 lifetime.

Ankiel homered later in the fifth for his first home run, making it 7-2 and chasing Hernandez.

Lohse (3-0) is 11-2 in 21 starts at home the last two seasons although he barely qualified for this win. He escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth on Gary Sheffield's double-play ball and left with a 4-2 lead. Five relievers finished for the Cardinals.

Beltran singled and double in his first two at-bats, and is 20-for-37 (.541) against Lohse lifetime with four homers and 12 RBIs.

Lohse's first balk since July 29, 2006, and only the fourth of his career, allowed a run in the first.

Notes: Beltran is 12-for-24 (.500) the last six games. ... The Mets face their first left-handed starter this season on Friday at home with Johan Santana opposing the Marlins' Scott Olsen. Manager Jerry Manuel said Fernando Tatis and Sheffield, 0-for-5 Thursday, would both start. ... Before Thursday, there had been three straight homerless games at Busch -- the first time that's happened since another three-game stretch from July 8-25, 2007. ... Pujols is a career .317 hitter against the Mets with 17 homers and 51 RBIs in 205 at-bats. ... Cardinals starters totaled two strikeouts in the series.

[Associated Press; By R.B. FALLSTROM]

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