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Cardinals fly past Reds on Pujols' homer

Jun 7, 2007 - 5:39 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick each hit a home run in the seventh inning to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday.

With the Cardinals trailing 4-3, Ludwick hit his first career pinch-hit homer with one out in the seventh to tie the game. The Reds decided to stick with starter Bronson Arroyo after the homer by Ludwick, which was a mistake.

Arroyo (2-7) was staked to a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning but could not hold it. He gave up a single to David Eckstein after allowing the homer to Ludwick and then he struck out Chris Duncan. Arroyo got ahead of Pujols 1-2 but could not put him away.

"The whole game was a pretty good little battle," said Arroyo, who allowed multiple home runs for the first time this season. "I made some mistakes that hurt me. I was trying to freeze (Pujols) with a heater in and wound up throwing middle away and he hit it just right."

Pujols launched his 12th homer of the season 413 feet into the bleachers in center field. The slugging first baseman has three home runs in his last three games.

"I had been just a little bit overanxious (earlier in the game)," said Pujols, who was hitless in his first three at-bats. "That's the last thing you want to do with a guy who has as good of stuff as Arroyo. Obviously we took advantage of the mistakes he made tonight. He doesn't make too many too often."

The blast by Pujols ensured that Arroyo's struggles would continue. He is 0-5 in his last six starts after allowing six runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings.

"(Arroyo) just made a couple mistakes and got hurt by it," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "He pitched well tonight, I look forward to seeing him pitch well his next time out."

Ludwick is now 5-for-9 as a pinch hitter after connecting for just the 15th homer of his career. He last hit one on May 22, 2005, against the Reds as a member of the Cleveland Indians.

"It felt good, it's been a while since I hit a home run," Ludwick said. "I got a good pitch to hit, stayed back on it, put a good swing on it and tied the game up, then Albert came up big for us later."

Tyler Johnson (1-0), the first of four relievers used by the Cardinals, pitched a perfect seventh inning to pick up the victory. Jason Isringhausen retired the side in order in the ninth for his 14th save.

"(The bullpen) is out there trying to keep the team in the game," Johnson said. "That's our main goal is to just get ahead of hitters and get outs and keep the team in contention to win the game. That's the way we all look at it and I think that's why we're successful."

Scott Hatteberg had a sacrifice fly and Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn each added RBI doubles in the fifth to give Cincinnati a 4-1 lead.

Eckstein had two hits and an RBI for St. Louis, which has won six of its last seven games.

"We're playing really well," said Eckstein, who is batting .459 over his current nine-game hitting streak. "We're swinging the bats a lot better. The confidence was always there but it definitely helps to have some success and we've had some success lately."