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Wainwright, Pujols power Cards past Braves

Jul 21, 2007 - 4:50 AM ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Adam Wainwright finally got a win at Turner Field, but it was not in an Atlanta Braves' uniform.

Wainwright overcame some early wildness to toss seven solid innings and Albert Pujols homered and scored twice to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the Braves on Friday.

The 25-year old Wainwright (9-7), who was selected by the Braves in the first round of the 2000 draft, has been nothing short of dominant in July. Entering Friday, he had allowed just two runs and 11 hits in 14 innings this month.

Wainwright notched his third straight victory by allowing one run, six hits and two walks while striking out seven.

"Kelly (Johnson) was my roommate for four years," Wainwright said. "A lot of those guys, I came up with. It's special to pitch against them."

"Pitching against his old organization at his home, all that stuff doesn't distract him," Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa said. "That was really, really quality."

The native of St. Simons, Georgia recorded the win in his first start against the club that drafted him but ultimately traded him away in a package for J.D. Drew in 2004. Prior to Friday's game, Wainwright had worked four scoreless innings over three relief appearances against Atlanta.

"I watched (Smoltz) from 1990 or 1991 on," Wainwright said. "I watched him, (Tom) Glavine, (Steve) Avery, every night at 7:35 with dinner. It was important to me because I had more people here who took the time to watch me pitch. This game was for the team and the guys who came to see me."

Things did not look good for Wainwright in the first.

The righthander struck out Willie Harris, but the speedster reached after Wainwright's throw went all the way to the backstop. Harris advanced to second when the righthander uncorked a second wild pitch and moved to third on a passed ball.

After Edgar Renteria grounded out, Chipper Jones laced a single to left field, plating Harris for a 1-0 edge.

"The easy solution to prevent that is to not get the ball up," Wainwright said. "I'm tall and the mound is high and there was something in the background. After that, I wanted to make sure the ball was down."

Pujols then gave Wainwright a boost.

The 27-year-old slugger smashed his 21st homer of the year, a 415-foot shot into the left-center field bleachers to knot the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning.

"(It was a) fastball," Atlanta starter Chuck James said. "Definitely not where I wanted it, where he wanted it. I usually don't watch homers. I watched that one. I didn't know if it was going to stay in the stadium."

Pujols then led off the decisive eighth with a double off reliever Rafael Soriano (2-2).

Juan Encarnacion plated Pujols with a single, advanced to second on the throw home and took third on Harris' throwing error. Pinch hitter Chris Duncan plated Encarnacion with a base hit to give the Cardinals a 3-1 edge.

It was the third shaky outing in the last four appearances for the normally reliable Soriano, who has blown two saves and been saddled with a loss during that stretch. The righthander has allowed five runs over his last 3 1/3 innings.

"It's just location," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "Same old thing when a pitcher gets hit hard, it's location."

Encarnacion added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly off Chad Paronto in the ninth.

Jason Isringhausen allowed a run and two hits in the ninth but settled down to record his 19th save.

James continued his recent streak of dominance, allowing one run and six hits, walking two and striking out four in seven solid frames. The Atlanta-area native, who entered Friday with a 2-0 record and 1.02 ERA in his previous three starts, threw 77 of his season-high 106 pitches for strikes.

"It's definitely like I felt the most comfortable so far," James said. "I went through a pretty good stretch last year. I got good run support last year. I'd probably say consistently (the last time I was this way) was in the minor leagues."

Renteria and Jones had two hits apiece for the Braves, who lost for only the second time in their last six meetings with the Cardinals.