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Jul 4, 2009 - 5:13 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

St. Louis (43-38) at Cincinnati (39-38), 1:10 p.m. EDT

With help from Albert Pujols, the St. Louis Cardinals started their pivotal road trip against NL Central opponents by recapturing sole possession of first place in the division.

The Cardinals will try to stay in front and win their fourth straight as they continue their three-game set against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

With his team trailing by three runs in the eighth inning, Pujols hit his fourth grand slam this season - a club record - and 10th of his career, surpassing Hall of Famer Stan Musial for most in club history. It was also Pujols' 350th homer, making him the third fastest in major league history to reach that mark at 29 years, 168 days old.

Nine games before the All-Star break, he has a major league-leading 31 home runs and 82 RBIs in addition to a .336 average that ranks in the NL's top five.

"I was just trying to stay away from the double play," he said. "(Cincinnati reliever David Weathers) got a fastball up, and I had my best swing of the night."

After the Reds tied it in their half of the eighth, the Cardinals responded with three runs on Jarrett Hoffpauir's two-run single - his first career hit - and Pujols' RBI double for a 7-4 win.

The victory and a Milwaukee loss in Chicago pushed the Cardinals (44-38) one game ahead of the Brewers in the NL Central. After its series in Cincinnati, St. Louis will play three games in Miller Park and four at Wrigley Field, including a doubleheader July 12 to conclude its trip.

The Cardinals will try to maintain that lead by helping Brad Thompson (2-4, 4.69 ERA) avoid his third consecutive loss. The right-hander has given up at least four runs in losing two of his last three starts.

While he benefited from 10 runs of support in a win June 19 at Kansas City, Thompson has received none in his past two outings. In his previous start Monday night against San Francisco, he was reached for four runs in six innings of a 10-0 loss.

Thompson, though, has pitched well versus the Reds, going 3-0 and a 3.69 ERA in 20 appearances. He has two victories among his five lifetime starts versus the Reds (39-39) but did not factor in the decision in a 5-2 home win June 2 while allowing two runs over five innings.

Micah Owings (5-8, 4.69), meanwhile, will try to continue his team's run of quality starts to open this month. Cincinnati's starters have posted a 1.77 ERA in the past three games as Homer Bailey was charged with two runs over 7 1-3 innings Friday.

After giving up a career-high six runs in Toronto on June 23, Owings bounced back in Tuesday night's 8-1 victory at Cleveland. The right-hander allowed the Indians to load the bases in the first but gave up the lone run and shut out the Indians over the next five innings.

"To just give up one run and get our guys back in the dugout there was pretty big," Owings said.

He was not a part of the decision in his only career start against St. Louis in 2007 while pitching for Arizona.