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Pujols, Lohse impressive as Cardinals down Giants

Apr 12, 2008 - 6:53 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Albert Pujols homered and drove in four runs to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night.

Kyle Lohse (2-0) pitched 5 1/3 solid innings for St. Louis, allowing eight hits and two runs for the Cardinals, who have won three of their last four games.

Skip Schumaker added three hits for St. Louis while Brian Barton and Ryan Ludwick also contributed a pair of hits each.

"My job is to get on base for the other guys and it worked out good for me tonight," Schumaker said. "The main thing for me is I want to make productive outs if I do make outs and see pitches. I've tried to do that and it worked out tonight."

Pujols, who is the only Cardinals player to reach base in every game, opened the scoring in the third inning when he stroked a long double to center field.

Rajai Davis nearly made the catch but his diving effort came up just short, allowing Schumaker to scamper home after he led off the inning with a single to left.

The Giants took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, pounding five hits in the frame.

"In that fourth inning, they pieced together a couple of good at-bats and a couple of balls fell in right behind second base, there's not much you can do about that," Lohse said. "But the offense picked me up, the defense did a great job and put together a good ballgame."

Randy Winn led off the inning with a single off the glove of Lohse, and Ray Durham followed with a single of his own to center field.

After a fielder's choice by Jose Castillo put runners at the corners, Rich Aurilia drove in Winn with a bloop single to center.

Steve Holm was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Brian Bocock hit a flare to center to plate Castillo before Aurilia was thrown out trying to score from second.

Giants starter Barry Zito capped the inning with a single through the hole, but Holm also was thrown out at the plate as the Giants closed the inning with a 2-1 lead.

"It's one of those plays where I had to actually calm myself down," Barton said of his throw to nail Holm. "I can have a tendency of trying to overthrow and grip the ball too tight. It was one of those things where I had to take into account that I've been working on my throwing and being calm through practices and trying to translate that into game situations."

The Cardinals took the lead in the top of the fifth, apparently energized by nailing the two runners at home.

"They made two good throws there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We have to be aggressive and they came up and executed the throws and got us. We were trying to add on there. We had the lead. We're doing all we can to get some runs on the board. Their outfield just came up, the ball both times bounced right up to them and (they) made nice throws."

After a single by Cesar Izturis, Durham booted an easy play at second on a ground ball by Schumaker.

After Zito retired Barton, he had to face Pujols, who crushed the lefthander's first offering to the bleachers in left for a three-run homer, giving St. Louis a 4-2 lead.

"I don't go out there and swing at the first pitch," Pujols said. "I'm a guy that reacts in every single at-bat, and if the pitch is in a location I'm looking for I'm going to swing it. And that's what I did against Zito."

Zito (0-3) is still in search of his first win after he pitched six innings, giving up seven hits and four runs - one earned - while striking out two.

"Letting Pujols beat me obviously spoils anything about the game, but as far as having decent command, getting ahead of guys, getting a few quick outs, it was definitely better," Zito said. "I feel a progression these last three games, so I just have to take the positive out of it."

The Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh when Troy Glaus grounded into a fielder's choice that scored Schumaker, who reached on a fielding error by Castillo and advanced to third on a single by Barton.

St. Louis broke the game open in the eighth with two more runs before Ludwick's solo home run capped the scoring in the ninth.