Pujols drives in 6, Cardinals beat Royals 12-5

[June 22, 2009]  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Albert Pujols finished off a three-day romp in Kansas City with two homers and six RBIs, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rout the Royals 12-5 Sunday in win No. 2,500 for manager Tony La Russa.

Pujols made a mockery of Kansas City pitching in his return to the town where he went to high school, hitting three homers and driving in 10 runs in the Cardinals' three-game sweep over their cross-state rivals.

The two-time NL MVP had four hits Sunday and delivered the decisive blow in the Cardinals' eight-run fourth inning, pounding his club record-tying third grand slam of the season off a window on the Royals Hall of Fame in left. He also had a run-scoring single in the first and added his major league-leading 26th homer in the fifth to put the Cardinals up 12-4.

Pujols tied Stan Musial's team record of nine career grand slams and matched the season mark of three shared by Jim Bottomley (1925), Keith Hernandez (1977) and Fernando Tatis (1999). His fifth multihomer game this season -- 28th career -- helped La Russa join Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) as the only managers with 2,500 career victories.

Pujols wasn't the only one hitting.

Khalil Greene, feeling good after missing 19 games with social anxiety disorder, homered for the third straight game, but had to leave in the fourth inning after being hit on the right knee by a pitch. The Cardinals roughed up Royals starter Gil Meche (4-6) early and finished with 13 hits for their eighth win in 11 games.

The outburst made a winner of Adam Wainwright (8-4) even though he gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings. It wasn't much of a surprise, though. The Cardinals have scored 36 runs in the right-hander's past three starts and average an NL-best 6.85 per game when he's on the mound.

Meche followed one of his best career performances with one of his worst.

Coming off a 132-pitch four-hitter against Arizona that pushed his scoreless streak to 16 innings, the right-hander allowed a career-high nine runs and nine hits in 3 2-3 innings. It didn't get any better after he left in the fourth inning, when the Cardinals sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs, including one on a bases-loaded walk and another on a wild pitch.

Jose Guillen hit his eighth homer and drove in three for Kansas City, which has allowed 53 runs during a five-game losing streak.

NOTES: Royals CF Mitch Maier robbed Chris Duncan of extra bases with a leaping grab against the wall in the first inning. ... Meche allowed two homers after giving up two in the previous 84 1-3 innings.

[Associated Press; By JOHN MARSHALL]

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