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Cardinals beat Reds, but Pujols injured

Jun 11, 2008 - 3:15 AM By Douglas Tifft PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Cardinals continue to win despite being bitten by the injury bug.

Ryan Ludwick collected four hits and drove in four runs as the Cardinals cruised to their third straight win with a 7-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.

St. Louis, which stands in second place in the National League Central at 39-27 despite having 10 pitchers on the disabled list, may have lost another valuable piece of the puzzle.

Slugging first baseman Albert Pujols came up lame after grounding out in the seventh inning. He was diagnosed with a strained left calf and will be re-evaluated Wednesday. Pujols had been having problems in the past few weeks with the calf, but he appeared to aggravate it as he slipped coming out of the batter's box Tuesday.

"You try and enjoy the moment and enjoy the victory but it is pretty tough to enjoy it (after Pujols' injury)," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.

"I would say it is worse (than his previous calf injuries) just based off of what I saw on the field," St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak added.

Pujols' teammates know that his presence will be sorely missed in the lineup if he is forced to miss any extended time.

"You are talking about one of the best hitters of all-time," Ludwick said. "He is the motor that makes this car run. So it is a huge, huge loss."

While Pujols was in the lineup, he was part of a potent middle of the order for the Cardinals. Ludwick, Pujols and Rick Ankiel each homered and combined for all seven RBI.

In the third, Pujols followed Ludwick's RBI double with a two-run home run, his 16th of the season. Ankiel gave St. Louis a 4-0 edge by following Pujols with his ninth home run of the season, marking the first time the Cardinals have hit back-to-back homers this season.

Ludwick was not done, adding an RBI double in the fourth, a solo home run in the seventh and a run-scoring single in the ninth to finish with a season-high four RBI.

"The first at-bat I had a couple of good pitches to hit, but just fouled them off (before striking out). So I just slowed everything down a bit and it turned out to be a pretty good night," Ludwick said.

"He competes every at-bat, so he is going to have a chance to do some good, and tonight he had some huge hits," La Russa said of Ludwick.

The Cardinals got an encouraging start from 24-year-old righthander Mitchell Boggs (1-0), who pitched five effective innings in his first major league start. The rookie allowed two runs on four hits and three walks.

"We were up 5-0 and my job is to go out there and get outs, and get us as deep in the game as possible," Boggs said. "It was a good starting point for me."

The Cardinals' damage came at the expense of Reds rookie starter Homer Bailey (0-2), who lasted just 3 2/3 frames. The 22-year-old righthander gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks in his second start of the season.

"All the runs scored with two outs," Bailey said. "So maybe they saw something, or I tried to do to much or not enough with two outs instead of finishing off the inning and getting back in the dugout."

Joey Votto hit a two-run blast in the fourth and Edwin Encarnacion collected three of the Reds' five hits. Votto leads all rookies with 11 home runs this year.