• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Rolen's four hits help Cardinals creep closer in NL Central

Aug 16, 2007 - 4:16 AM By JR Radcliffe PA Sportsticker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Scott Rolen helped the St. Louis Cardinals inch closer in the National League Central Division race Wednesday.

Rolen had four hits, including a two-run homer, and Joel Pineiro pitched seven effective innings as the Cardinals cruised to their fourth consecutive win, an 8-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds added solo home runs for the Cardinals, who moved within 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Brewers after trouncing them for the second straight night.

"It was just a well-played game by everybody that was in uniform," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "It starts with Joel and the game the third baseman (Rolen) had was Hall of Fame material. Defensively, he got a big play and knocked a ball down over to David (for an out in the third), that was a big out. He hit the ball hard every time up and got a lot of help from his teammates."

Rolen sent a 1-1 offering from Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo (4-3) over the left-center field wall for a two-run shot to give St. Louis a 3-0 advantage.

The 32-year-old third baseman, who scored three runs, added singles in the fourth and seventh, respectively, and a double in the sixth frame. Rolen is batting .270 with eight home runs and 53 RBI on the season.

Pineiro (2-1) allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings, with no walks and four strikeouts. The Puerto Rican righthander is 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in three starts since coming to St. Louis from the Boston Red Sox.

"A lot of it was in the hands of Yaddy (Yadier Molina), he called a good game," Pineiro said of his catcher. "They made great plays behind me all the way around, center field, Rolen ... it was a great team win today."

The Cardinals, who have won seven of their last nine, initiated the scoring when Albert Pujols hit a majestic 445-foot solo home run to center in the first inning - the 275th of his career. It was the first time since April that both Pujols and Rolen had homered in the same game.

"I'm just looking at the fact that we had double figure hits," La Russa said. "We're not looking at home runs. Everyone is competing all the way to the end, and it's fun to see that. Whatever the production is, it is. We're putting together a bunch of tough at-bats."

Bill Hall went deep for the 10th time this season with a solo shot in the second and Geoff Jenkins hit his fourth home run in three games with a solo blast in the seventh against Pineiro, but Milwaukee still stumbled to its seventh loss in nine games.

Despite a tenuous hold on first place in the NL Central, the Brewers fell to four games above .500, their lowest mark since June 12 when Detroit Tigers righthander Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter against them.

Milwaukee starters are now 1-8 in their last 16 outings, with a 7.64 ERA. The starters have not had a win since August 3 at Philadelphia, when Gallardo turned the feat.

"You just keep hoping that today is the day that we're going to break out of it," Brewers manager Ned Yost said of his team's pitching woes.

In this outing, the rookie allowed seven runs and nine hits with six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings but looking shaky for the second straight outing.

"I felt fine, the velocity, everything," Gallardo said. "I threw three pitches for strikes and it was just one of those days where they were able to put some hits together and score some runs. It's tough, but there's nothing you can do about it. There's going to be long stretches like that, but you've got to battle through it."

"Our focus is to go in there and make the pitcher work," Pujols said. "We know that kid has good stuff ... today he was out there in the fourth inning at 75 or 85 pitches. We're making pitchers work right now, and that's good. We were struggling for a while earlier in the year and in the last month or so we've been swinging the bat pretty well and we've been staying healthy."

Yadier Molina delivered an RBI double in the fourth to pad St. Louis' advantage to 4-1 in the fourth inning.

Rolen conspired with Chris Duncan on back-to-back doubles leading off the sixth, plating another run and Brendan Ryan later added a successful sacrifice squeeze followed by a David Eckstein run-scoring single to open up a 7-1 Cardinals lead.

Edmonds added a home run against reliever Carlos Villanueva in the seventh, his first since June 9. The 37-year-old center fielder has seven multi-hit performances in his last 11 contests.

The Cardinals have scored 32 runs in their last three games.

"If you're going to make a move, this is the right time to do it," Pujols said. "There's not too much season left. Six weeks seems like a lot of season, but it's not. There's a couple road trips here and there and suddenly you're in the middle of September and it's too late. Our goal was just to come here and win the series and hopefuilly we can come tomorrow and take the rest."