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Pujols, Cardinals KO Braves

Jul 30, 2008 - 3:39 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Albert Pujols beat the downtrodden Atlanta Braves with his bat and his legs.

Pujols homered and scored the go-ahead run on catcher Corky Miller's throwing error and Yadier Molina had three hits and capped a five-run ninth with a two-run single to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-3 rout of the woeful Braves on Tuesday.

Brendan Ryan had two hits and drove in a run and Todd Wellemeyer hurled six effective frames for the Cardinals, who have won two straight games after dropping six of their previous seven.

"It was totally different than last night," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "The score of the game was very deceiving. We did a good job of continuing to push."

The power-laden Pujols blasted the Cardinals back into this one by knotting the contest at 2-2, smashing Atlanta starter Jorge Campillo's 3-1 offering one row into the left-center field bleachers in the sixth before winning the game with his legs two frames later.

Pujols led off the eighth with a double that landed about a foot fair down the right field line off Atlanta reliever Rafael Soriano (0-1) before Ryan Ludwick lined to shortstop to record the first out of the inning. The not-so-fleet footed Pujols stole third on the 1-0 offering from Soriano and scored when reserve catcher Miller's throw sailed wide of the third base bag into left field.

"(The Braves) are banged up, but they play hard," Ryan said. "You have to take advantage of that situation."

First baseman Greg Norton's throwing error on Aaron Miles' bunt attempt in the ninth put the final nail in the coffin for the Braves. St. Louis took advantage of the miscue, scoring five runs - four earned -- in the frame while sending 10 runners to the plate.

Cesar Izturis drove in a run with a single in the frame before pinch hitter Nick Stavinoha added to the Cardinals' lead with a sacrifice fly. Troy Glaus extended the lead to 6-2 by drawing a bases-loaded walk off reliever Mike Gonzalez before Molina capped the frame with a two-out, two-run single.

The errors capped what was has been a miserable week for the bad-news Braves, who raised the white flag on their season earlier Tuesday by trading away two-time Gold Glove Award-winning first baseman Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Casey Kotchman and a minor league pitcher.

The deal came one day after the club learned that staff ace Tim Hudson may have to undergo "Tommy John" surgery on his right elbow.

"It's hard," said Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, who joined fellow former All-Stars John Smoltz and Tom Glavine and Hudson on the disabled list on Monday. "Nobody wants to be in this situation. Unfortunately, with the way free agency is these days and injuries, we are where are."

And it appeared that the fight was out of the Braves, who became sellers at the trade deadline for the first time since the 1990 campaign, when they traded away franchise icon Dale Murphy.

"It's a little bit strange today," said a dejected Braves manager Bobby Cox, who had guided the club to 14 consecutive titles from 1991 to 2005 and pennant races into September over past two seasons. "But it will be good to get Kotchman in here and see what he can do for us."

Molina laced a two-out single to center field in the second before Ryan laced a double to right field as the lumbering catcher headed for the plate. Miller received Jeff Francoeur's throw and appeared to tag out Molina before his foot came across home plate, but plate umpire Tim Tschida called Molina safe.

Miller protested the call, but in a sign of how bad things have become for the Braves, not even Cox -- the major league's all-time ejections leader with 141 ejections - could gather the strength to muster an argument in this one.

"The big thing that is frustrating for us is that we had such high expectations," Francoeur said. "Not in my wildest dreams would I think we'd be where we are right now. I thought we'd be in first place."

Ryan Franklin (4-4), who was tattooed for six runs over his last three relief appearances, hurled two scoreless frames to notch the win.

"I don't want to dwell on the negative," Franklin said. "I'm staying positive. I threw a lot of good pitches tonight. The worst pitch I threw was to Francoeur and he fouled it back."

Campillo scattered two runs and seven hits for Atlanta while Wellemeyer allowed two runs and eight hits over six frames for St. Louis.

Gregor Blanco had four hits and drove in a run for Atlanta, which has surrendered 42 runs over its last four games