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 Yadier Molina knocked in the tying run in the eighth, and Aaron Miles drove home the go-ahead run after St. Louis was aided by two crucial errors in the inning. Ryan Ludwick's two-run shot capped the rally, all against Armando Benitez (2-8).
Pujols connected in the sixth and extended his RBI streak to six games for the Cardinals, who began the night three games out of first place in the NL Central.
Miguel Cabrera homered for the Marlins, who have lost a season-worst seven in a row
-- one more than their previous worst from July 23-29. Cabrera did not start on Monday after arriving late to the ballpark for an afternoon game.
Rookie pitcher Daniel Barone befuddled the Cardinals for 5 2-3 innings with the help of three double-play balls, allowing one run and seven hits.
Benitez retired Pujols and Jim Edmonds to start the eighth before shortstop Hanley Ramirez fielded Juan Encarnacion's routine grounder and then looped a throw well over the head of first baseman Jason Wood for a two-base error
-- his 20th of the year.
Molina followed with an RBI single to tie it and went to third on a throwing error by right fielder Jeremy Hermida. Miles followed with the go-ahead hit and Ludwick added his 11th homer. None of the runs were earned.
Troy Percival (3-0) allowed one hit and struck out two in a scoreless eighth. Jason Isringhausen finished for his 24th save in 26 chances.
Cabrera hit his 30th homer off Adam Wainwright in the fifth to put the Marlins ahead 2-0. He just missed a second homer in the third on a foul liner that banged off the facade on the second deck before he grounded into a double play.
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The Marlins left the bases loaded in the first and stranded two in the third against Wainwright, who labored through six innings and 108 pitches. He allowed two runs and nine hits, with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Florida capitalized on Edmonds' error in center plus a mental error committed by first baseman Pujols to score its first run in the third. Josh Willingham went from first to third on Mike Jacobs' two-out hit, took off for home when Edmonds bobbled the ball and scored when Pujols seemed surprised by Edmonds' strong relay and threw late and wide to the plate, forcing Molina to lunge for it.
Pujols went 10 days between homers before beginning his long-ball binge. He has 29 homers on the year, and six RBIs in the last six games. He lined a 2-0 pitch from Barone off the same facade Cabrera struck in the third, only this one was well fair.
Notes: Cardinals catchers have allowed an NL-low 44 steals, 17 fewer than next-best Colorado. Molina threw out Ramirez, who has 39 steals and has been caught 13 times, in the first. ... The Marlins have homered in 21 of their last 23 games and have 25 overall in August after leading the NL with 39 in July. ... Tony La Russa of the Cardinals managed his 1,409th game, passing Bucky Harris for third on the career list.
[Associated Press;
by R.B. Fallstrom]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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