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A thousand and "won": Cards crush Dodgers

Apr 16, 2011 - 6:02 AM Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman each belted a pair of home runs as part of a 19-hit attack, and the Cardinals pounded the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-2, to continue a four-game series.

It was a night where the number 1,000 signified the success of the Cardinals. They secured their 1,000th win against the Dodgers, but lead the all-time series by only three games. Also, Kyle Lohse (2-1) reached the 1,000-strikeout mark in his career. The right-hander allowed six hits and two runs, while fanning six batters.

"I didn't have my best change-up, but overall I felt pretty good," Lohse said. "I was able to hit my spots. One thousand strikeouts, it feels pretty good. It's a good feeling to be able to be out there long enough to get it."

Colby Rasmus had three doubles and scored twice for St. Louis, which won for the fifth time in six games and the Cardinals have been scoring runs in bunches. They have 57 over their last six contests.

Yadier Molina and David Freese joined the hit parade with four and three, respectively. St. Louis has 35 hits over the first two games of this series. This was their fifth straight game with at least 14 hits.

Jon Garland (0-1) lost in his 2011 debut, giving up nine hits and five runs over four-plus innings. Garland was signed in the offseason to bolster an already promising rotation, but suffered an oblique injury during spring training and was placed on the disabled list.

"He wasn't as sharp as we would have liked," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Berkman got him a couple of times. Jon's a guy I know is going to bounce back and he'll be sharp for us."

The Dodgers lost their fourth straight game.

Berkman led off the second inning with a home to right, and later in the frame a balk from Garland scored Freese. Ryan Theriot's RBI single made it 3-0.

Berkman started the fourth with another long ball before the Dodgers finally got a hit in the bottom of the frame, in fact three in a row to start the inning. The last in that stretch was an RBI single from Matt Kemp. A wild pitch from Lohse scored Andre Ethier later in the inning.

"Jon missed his spots on both of them," Berkman said of his homers. "And I capitalized on it. It was his first start and he might have been off a little. He's a quality pitcher. Look at our personnel. This is the kind of offense we're capable of having."

Rasmus doubled to start the fifth, and then Pujols smacked a homer off Kenley Jansen, widening the margin to 6-2.

The Dodgers had a rally turned away in the fifth, and Pujols homered to center leading off the seventh.

The Cardinals tacked on four runs in the ninth, two on a pinch-hit single from Tyler Greene. Matt Holliday added an RBI double while Lance Cormier walked Skip Schumaker with the bases loaded.

Game Notes

This was Pujols' 40th career multi-homer game, while Berkman got his 27th...Ethier has a 12-game hitting streak...The Dodgers celebrated Jackie Robinson Day with Don Newcombe throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.