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Pujols, Cardinals rally past Padres

Jul 20, 2008 - 1:21 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- With the St. Louis Cardinals down by five runs early in the game, starter Todd Wellemeyer settled down on the mound and Albert Pujols led the comeback.

Pujols had three hits and four RBI as the Cardinals overcame a five-run deficit to record their fourth straight win, a 6-5 triumph over the San Diego Padres on Saturday.

St. Louis trailed, 5-0, after two innings but rallied with four runs in the fifth and two in the sixth to take the lead.

"We've done it all year long," Pujols said. "Finding yourselves down five runs after two innings is pretty tough. But we had a lot of outs left."

Wellemeyer (8-4) bounced back after the rocky start, allowing five runs and five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

"I kept us in the game long enough to win it," Wellemeyer said. "I wish I could have taken back those first two innings because I figured it out after that. I just wasn't getting through all of the pitches, leaving them up."

"I think after the second or third inning, Todd really found himself out there and got comfortable," Pujols said. "He started making some pitches and gave us an opportunity to come back in the game."

With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, Pujols started the comeback when he lined the first pitch he saw into the gap in left-center field, clearing the bases and cutting the deficit to 5-3. Two batters later, Rick Ankiel hit an RBI single to pull St. Louis within one.

"Today, it was so hot out there," Ankiel said. "You're down 5-0, and to come back and win it, it's so big for us."

In the next inning, Cesar Izturis singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice before Brendan Ryan reached on an error by third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff to put runners on the corners.

Skip Schumaker tied the game with a groundout to shortstop and, after All-Star Ryan Ludwick walked, Pujols singled off the glove of shortstop Khalil Greene to give St. Louis a 6-5 advantage.

"Albert's having a great year," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "You just watch what he gets to hit every day and you'll understand why he gets his base hits but some of the other production drops off."

The Padres had a great chance to reclaim the lead in the top of the seventh as they loaded the bases with one out. But Ron Villone struck out All-Star Adrian Gonzalez and got Kouzmanoff to fly out to center.

Ryan Franklin pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit and one walk en route to his 14th save.

San Diego took a 1-0 lead in the first, when center fielder Ankiel could not handle Gonzalez's line drive, allowing Edgar Gonzalez to score from second. Kouzmanoff followed with a sacrifice fly to double the Padres' advantage.

"I come here to play hard every day," Edgar Gonzalez said. "It does feel good, especially knowing that I played with (the Cardinals' organization in Class AAA). I hit .310 with them and never got a call-up. So it does feel pretty good to show them that I can play at this level. They probably didn't think that I could do it at this level."

The Padres extended their lead to 5-0 in the top of the second, when Edgar Gonzalez blasted a three-run homer to left off Wellemeyer.

San Diego starter Randy Wolf (6-10) surrendered six runs - four earned - and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, losing for the sixth time in his last seven starts.

"Obviously, that fifth inning got away from me," Wolf said. "I think the biggest at-bat was walking Schumaker. That kind of snowballed there. And then you leave a ball out to Pujols, you have to make a better pitch than that. If you make a pitch that's over the plate to a hitter like that, he's going to do some damage. And obviously, he did. "