Final
Pujols drives in 6, Cardinals beat Royals 12-5
Jun 21, 2009 - 10:31 PM By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports WriterKANSAS CITY, Mo.(AP) -- Albert Pujols comes through Kansas City once a season. The Royals wouldn't be too disappointed if he never came back.
Pujols finished off a three-day romp in Kansas City with two homers and six RBIs, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rout the Royals 12-5 Sunday in win No. 2,500 for manager Tony La Russa.
"He's the best hitter in the game," Royals starter Gil Meche said.
Pujols made a mockery of Kansas City pitching in his return to the town where he went to high school, hitting three homers and driving in 10 runs in the Cardinals' three-game sweep over their cross-state rivals.
The two-time NL MVP had four hits Sunday and delivered the decisive blow in the Cardinals' eight-run fourth inning, pounding his club record-tying third grand slam of the season off a window on the Royals Hall of Fame in left. He also had a run-scoring single in the first and added his major league-leading 26th homer - eighth in 10 games - in the fifth to put the Cardinals up 12-4.
"It's nothing special. I'm just seeing good pitches and hitting them," said Pujols, who has 12 homers in 27 career games at Kauffman Stadium.
Pujols tied Stan Musial's team record of nine career grand slams and matched the season mark of three shared by Jim Bottomley (1925), Keith Hernandez (1977) and Fernando Tatis (1999). His fifth multihomer game this season - 28th career - helped La Russa join Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) as the only managers with 2,500 career victories.
"He does it over and over again and it's impossible to describe how great he is," said La Russa, who has 1,180 wins in 14 seasons with St. Louis. "Albert's amazing."
Pujols wasn't the only one hitting on this day.
Khalil Greene, feeling good after missing 19 games with social anxiety disorder, homered for the third straight game, but had to leave in the fourth inning after being hit on the right knee by a pitch. The Cardinals roughed up Meche (4-6) early and finished with 13 hits for their eighth win in 11 games.
The outburst made a winner of Adam Wainwright (8-4) even though he gave up five runs and eight hits in six innings. It wasn't much of a surprise. The Cardinals have scored 36 runs in the right-hander's past three starts and average an NL-best 6.85 per game when he's on the mound.
"Early on, he just didn't have enough bite on his pitches," La Russa said. "But he's got great guts and he hung in there."
Meche followed one of his best career performances with one of his worst.
Coming off a 132-pitch four-hitter against Arizona that pushed his scoreless streak to 16 innings, the right-hander allowed a career-high nine runs and nine hits in 3 2-3 innings. It didn't get any better after he left in the fourth inning, when the Cardinals sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs, including one on a bases-loaded walk and another on a wild pitch.
Jose Guillen hit his eighth homer and drove in three for Kansas City, which has allowed 53 runs during a five-game losing streak.
"It wasn't good at all," said Meche, who allowed two homers after giving up two in his previous 84 1-3 innings. "Pretty much everything that could happen wrong today did. It's been that way for us the last four or five games. It's definitely tough coming into the clubhouse after every game when you play like that."
NOTES: La Russa is 2,500-2,177 in 31 years as a big league manager with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and St. Louis. ... Royals CF Mitch Maier robbed Chris Duncan of extra bases with a leaping grab against the wall in the first inning. ... The Royals topped the 30,000 mark in attendance for the 12th game this season after doing it just eight times last year. ... The Cardinals swept the Royals in Kansas City for the third time in six years.
- ML
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
ST LOUIS 2 1 0 8 1 0 0 0 0 12 13 0
KANSAS CITY 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 9 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: STL - ADAM WAINWRIGHT, DENNYS REYES (7TH), JASON MOTTE (7TH), KYLE
MCCLELLAN (8TH), BLAKE HAWKSWORTH (9TH) AND YADIER MOLINA,
JASON LARUE (8TH)
KAN - GIL MECHE, RO
Jun 21 5:04 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY JOSE GUILLEN (8) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE
6TH OFF ADAM WAINWRIGHT.
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 12, KANSAS CITY 5
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: M TEAHEN (.282, 1-FOR-2, RBI)
Cardinals 12, Royals 5 Bot 6, 0 OutsJun 21 4:14 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY ALBERT PUJOLS (26) TO CENTER WITH 1 OUT IN
THE 5TH OFF JAMEY WRIGHT.
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 12, KANSAS CITY 4
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: R LUDWICK (.243, 1-FOR-2, BB)
Cardinals 12, Royals 4 Top 5, 0 OutsJun 21 3:57 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
WILD PITCH BY JAMEY WRIGHT ALLOWED RICK ANKIEL TO SCORE.
SITUATION: 8 RUNS IN, T GREENE ON FIRST, J THURSTON ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 11
KANSAS CITY 4 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: S SCHUMAKER (.297, 2-FOR-2, BB, RBI)
Cardinals 11, Royals 4 Top 4, 0 OutsJun 21 3:43 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
BASES LOADED WALK TO TYLER GREENE SCORED CHRIS DUNCAN.
SITUATION: 7 RUNS IN, T GREENE ON FIRST, J THURSTON ON SECOND, R
ANKIEL ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 10
KANSAS CITY 4 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: S SCHUMAKER (.297, 2-FOR-2, BB, RBI)
Cardinals 10, Royals 4 Top 4, 0 OutsJun 21 3:42 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY RICK ANKIEL SCORED RYAN LUDWICK.
SITUATION: 6 RUNS IN, R ANKIEL ON FIRST, C DUNCAN ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 9
KANSAS CITY 4 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: J THURSTON (.229, 1 HR, 18 RBI)
Cardinals 9, Royals 4 Top 4, 0 OutsJun 21 3:35 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
GRAND SLAM BY ALBERT PUJOLS (25) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN THE
4TH OFF GIL MECHE SCORED JOE THURSTON, TYLER GREENE AND SKIP
SCHUMAKER.
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 8, KANSAS CITY 4
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: R LUDWICK (.243, 1-FOR-2)
Cardinals 8, Royals 4 Top 4, 0 OutsJun 21 3:24 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY SKIP SCHUMAKER SCORED RICK ANKIEL.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, S SCHUMAKER ON FIRST, T GREENE ON SECOND, J
THURSTON ON THIRD, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 4
KANSAS CITY 4 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: C RASMUS (.278, 0-FOR-1, SAC)
Cardinals 4, Royals 4 Top 4, 0 OutsJun 21 3:18 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY DAVID DEJESUS (5) TO CENTER WITH 2 OUT IN
THE 2ND OFF ADAM WAINWRIGHT.
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 3, KANSAS CITY 4
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: W BLOOMQUIST (.291, 0-FOR-1)
Cardinals 3, Royals 4 Bot 2, 0 OutsJun 21 2:55 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY KHALIL GREENE (5) TO LEFT WITH 1 OUT IN
THE 2ND OFF GIL MECHE.
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 3, KANSAS CITY 3
DUE UP FOR ST LOUIS: T GREENE (.256, 2 HR, 5 RBI)
Cardinals 3, Royals 3 Top 2, 0 OutsJun 21 2:40 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARK TEAHEN SCORED JOSE GUILLEN.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, M TEAHEN ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 2
KANSAS CITY 3 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: M OLIVO (.252, 10 HR, 27 RBI)
Cardinals 2, Royals 3 Bot 1, 0 OutsJun 21 2:34 PM - ML
AT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY JOSE GUILLEN SCORED DAVID DEJESUS AND BILLY
BUTLER.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, J GUILLEN ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: ST LOUIS 2
KANSAS CITY 2 BOTTOM, 1ST
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: M TEAHEN (.280, 8 HR, 23 RBI)
Cardinals 2, Royals 2 Bot 1, 0 OutsJun 21 2:33 PM - ML
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
ST LOUIS 2 2 3 0
KANSAS CITY 0 0 0 (BOT 1)
CURRENT PITCHERS: STL - ADAM WAINWRIGHT
KAN - GIL MECHE
DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: D DEJESUS (.241, 4 HR, 30 RBI)
W BLOOMQUIST (.293, 1 HR, 14 RBI)
B BUTLER (.282, 6 HR
Cardinals 2, Royals 0 Bot 1, 0 OutsJun 21 2:20 PM
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