Garrett Jones homered to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning and lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Jones connected on a 2-2 pitch from Arthur Rhodes (3-4) for his 14th home run. It was also Jones’ second career game-ending homer as he connected against San Francisco’s Bob Howry on July 17, 2009.

Center fielder Andrew McCutchen prevented St. Louis from going ahead in the top of the 11th when he made a running backhanded inning-ending catch to rob Albert Pujols of extra bases and keep Rafael Furcal from scoring from first base.

Chris Resop (4-4) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.

Pittsburgh tied the game in the ninth when Neil Walker homered on the first pitch from closer Fernando Salas. Walker, who has 10 homers, had not connected at home since June 5.

Salas, a rookie who suffered his fourth blown save in 27 opportunities, escaped further trouble when he got Brandon Wood to fly out and Ryan Ludwick to ground out with a runner on second base.

St. Louis had gone ahead in the top of the ninth on Matt Holliday’s sacrifice fly off closer Joel Hanrahan, snapping his streak of 15 consecutive scoreless innings. The Cardinals entered the day six games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central.

Albert Pujols reached 30 home runs for the 11th consecutive season when he connected in the sixth inning. The NL home runs leader is the first player in the major-league history to hit 30 homers in each of his first 11 seasons.

Pujols’ 28 career home runs at PNC Park are his most at any visiting stadium.

Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter struck out 10 in seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits with one walk.

Walker had three hits for the Pirates, Andrew McCutchen blasted a three-run home run and had two hits and Jose Tabata had two hits in his first game since strained his left quadriceps on June 26. Jones also had two hits.

David Freese had three hits for the Cardinals and Jay added two.

Pittsburgh starter Jeff Karstens allowed three runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out five.

Jay led off the ninth with a double down the left-field line and was bunted to third by Rafael Furcal. Pujols was intentionally walked for the second straight plate appearances so Hanrahan could face Holliday, who briefly put the Cardinals ahead with his sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals tied the score at 3-3 with a two-run sixth inning that chased Karstens.

Pujols led off the inning with his home run into the right-field stands. Lance Berkman singled one out later and scored on Freese’s double to right.

McCutchen’s home run down the right-field line in the third off Carpenter put Pittsburgh ahead 3-1. The two-out drive came after Karstens walked and Tabata singled.

McCutchen helped St. Louis scored the game’s first run in the second inning when he allowed Holliday’s line drive to sail over his head for a leadoff double. Skip Schumaker drove in Holiday with a two-out single.

— Associated Press —

Ryan Doumit had a big chunk of his season wiped out by an injury. He seems intent on making up for lost time.

Doumit went 4 for 4 and hit a tiebreaking three-run home run to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.

Doumit’s homer in the fourth inning off Jake Westbrook (9-7) snapped a 1-1 tie and helped Pittsburgh break its three-game losing streak. The switch-hitting catcher matched a career high with his sixth four-hit game.

Doumit was on the disabled list from May 30-Aug. 2 after suffering a severely sprained left ankle in a home plate collision. He is 10 for 23 (.435) in eight games since being activated.

“There is always concern when somebody is coming back after being out for so long but he’s come back as clean as any player I’ve ever had,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “He’s been in a pretty good place. He’s seeing the ball extremely well and he’s working extremely hard.”

Doumit, who has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, couldn’t come up with a reason for why he is hitting so well since his return.

“I really can’t put my finger on it,” he said. “I’m riding the wave right now and I just want to keep riding it as long as I can.”

St. Louis, which had won three of its last four, fell six games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central. The Brewers blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0 on Monday night.

Xavier Paul, who homered, and Neil Walker each had two hits for the Pirates, and James McDonald (8-6) pitched 5 2-3 uneven innings to end his three-start winless streak. McDonald allowed two runs and six hits while walking two and striking out four.

“It was a good win for the team and that’s the most important thing because we had a pretty tough ending to our road trip,” Doumit said, referring to the Pirates being swept in a three-game weekend series at Milwaukee.

The Cardinals’ Ryan Theriot had three hits and Matt Holliday doubled twice, including the 200th of his career.

St. Louis went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base.

“The name of the game is execution,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “We had a double twice and didn’t score a run. A lot of that is their pitching but some of it was we could have done a better job.”

Westbrook gave up five runs, four earned, and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings while walking one and striking out three.

Jose Veras got what was likely the biggest out of the game for Pittsburgh when he relieved Daniel McCutchen in the seventh. With two outs and runners on first and second with a 5-2 lead, Veras got Albert Pujols to look at a called third strike on a curveball on the inside corner.

“It mano-a-mano right there,” Doumit said. “You know Albert is coming up ready to do some damage but Jose has great stuff with his fastball and curveball. We decided to go with the curve to keep him off balance and get him out, and it worked.”

Pujols went 1 for 4 with a single one night after taking over the NL home run lead with 29. He is looking to hit 30 homers for the 11th consecutive season.

Paul opened the scoring when he led off the bottom of the first inning with his second home run of the season and third of his career.

The Cardinals tied it in the third as Rafael Furcal’s two-out double drove in Theriot, who led off with a single and advanced to second on Westbrook’s sacrifice bunt.

Doumit hit his sixth homer in the fourth on an 0-1 curveball to put the Pirates ahead. Walker and Garrett Jones led off the inning with singles and Doumit followed with a drive to right field.

“They capitalized on the mistakes that I made,” Westbrook said. “I felt strong about my sinker and it’s a little frustrating to get hurt on my fifth-best pitch on the home run.”

David Freese’s RBI single chased McDonald in the top of the sixth but Pittsburgh got the run back in the bottom of the inning on a throwing error by shortstop Furcal.

Walker doubled home a run in the seventh to push the Pirates’ lead to 6-2.

The Pirates won the opener of their six-game homestand after going 0-7 the last time they were at PNC Park. It was their longest winless homestand in the franchise’s 125-year history.

“We’ve already won one more game at home this time,” Hurdle said with a smile. “Good for us.”

— Associated Press —

Kyle Lohse responded to getting bumped in the rotation with a strong outing. He wasn’t about to criticize manager Tony La Russa’s decision.

“I’ve felt fine physically,” Lohse said after working into the seventh inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 6-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday night. “Tony’s going to set the matchups the way he wants, and I’m ready whenever he wants me to be ready.”

Albert Pujols followed up a 4-for-4 game with two hits and the go-ahead RBI and David Freese had two hits and three RBIs, two of them in a five-run sixth that chased Aaron Cook (2-7). Matt Holliday returned after missing two games with a lower-back injury and had an RBI double, while Lohse contributed his first Busch Stadium RBI in nearly two seasons.

Carlos Gonzalez hit his 17th home run for the Rockies, who have lost three in a row while mustering just four runs and are a season-worst 10 games below .500 (55-65). Colorado had only five hits for the second straight game and has scored only one run for Cook in his last three starts.

Cook made only his 12th start after being sidelined with a fractured finger, and manager Jim Tracy said he deserved better.

“He was aggressive, he was in the strike zone from the outside, he was throwing one ground ball after another,” Tracy said. “It’s unfortunate when you get down to it.”

The Cardinals have won five straight over the Rockies at home, outscoring them 22-3.

Lohse (10-7) matched his victory total from the previous two seasons, both of them injury-plagued, and addressed doubts about his current health and durability that in part prompted the Cardinals to give him two extra days of rest. The right-hander allowed a run on four hits in 6 1/3 innings and threw 91 pitches, 17 more than any of his three previous appearances.

Lohse was sent home for tests for inflammation in the middle finger of his pitching hand after his start on July 24 at Pittsburgh and allowed eight runs in eight innings in his previous two starts. He reached double figures in victories for the first time since 2008 when he was a 15-game winner.

Ace Chris Carpenter jumped ahead of Lohse with regular rest and had a strong eight-inning outing in a 5-2 victory over the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night. The Brewers remained four games ahead of St. Louis.

Given the extra time, Lohse altered his delivery somewhat.

“I tweaked some things mechanically, dropped the arm slot a little bit just to see what happened,” Lohse said. “And I came out with some good results.”

Pujols singled in two of his first three at-bats and his one-hop smash that glanced off second baseman Mark Ellis’ glove made it 2-1 with none out in the sixth. Holliday bounced a double over the head of third baseman Chris Nelson on the next pitch for a two-run cushion and Freese’s two-run single made it 6-1.

Lohse had early success going after hitters, with first-pitch strikes to 11 of the first 12. That stretch was capped by Gonzalez’s homer to straightaway center leading off the fourth to tie it at 1, and the Rockies loaded the bases on two walks and Todd Helton’s double later in the inning before Cook popped out to shallow right.

Cook allowed a season-worst six runs in 5 2/3 innings and is 0-2 in August while surrendering 12 runs in 16 1/3 innings. He had no regrets about his work against the Cardinals.

“It’s very frustrating, but I’ve got to try to just laugh this one off and realize I know I made the pitches I wanted to make,” Cook said. “They were able to just find the holes to get the runs.”

Gonzalez is 3-for-19 with two homers during the Rockies’ trip.

— Associated Press —

Albert Pujols kicked off a 4-for-4 night with a solo homer and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 on Thursday to avoid a three-game sweep.

St. Louis pulled within four games of NL Central-leading Milwaukee, which has won 13 of 15. The Cardinals are the only team to beat the Brewers during their hot streak.

Pujols entered with just five hits in 42 at-bats against the Brewers. He ended the slide with a drive in the first against Yovani Gallardo (13-8), tying him with teammate Lance Berkman for the National League lead with 28 homers. Pujols added two singles against Gallardo, who lasted just five innings.

Chris Carpenter (8-8) gave up 10 hits in eight innings but shut down the Brewers after they scored twice in the first. Fernando Salas finished for his 22nd save in 25 opportunities.

Rafael Furcal got St. Louis off to a fast start with a leadoff drive to right in the first. After Gallardo fanned Jon Jay, Pujols hit a tying drive over the wall in center.

Mark Kotsay, subbing for All-Star slugger Ryan Braun, reached three times and had an RBI double for Milwaukee. Prince Fielder had a run-scoring single to give him 88 RBIs.

St. Louis took its first lead of the series in the third with some help from the Brewers. Second baseman Felipe Lopez booted Furcal’s ground ball leading off the inning, allowing him to reach first. Furcal was forced at second by Jay, but Pujols and Berkman followed with singles to plate Jay.

That same combination worked again in the fifth when Jay singled to right with two out, stole second and scored on Pujols’ single to center. Pujols moved to third on Berkman’s single to right and came home on a wild pitch to make it 5-2.

Gallardo gave up five runs, four earned, and seven hits.

— Associated Press —

Randy Wolf pitched eight sharp innings and the streaking Milwaukee Brewers jumped on Jake Westbrook early to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 on Wednesday night, giving the NL Central leaders their 13th win in 14 games.

Prince Fielder had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and an RBI double in the third to help the Brewers open a five-game cushion on the second-place Cardinals.

Milwaukee clinched only its fifth road series win of the season and will try for a three-game sweep Thursday night. The Brewers have taken four of five from St. Louis this month.

The Brewers are 41-15 at home and just 26-35 on the road but are one win away from a perfect 6-0 trip.

Albert Pujols had a sacrifice fly in the first for the Cardinals but is 0-for-8 in the series and 5-for-42 (.119) with only four RBIs against the Brewers this season. St. Louis entered with a four-game winning streak but has yet to lead in the series.

Wolf (9-8) relied on defense, retiring 18 of his last 20 with no walks and one strikeout. He allowed one run and five hits, and pitched four 1-2-3 innings. He’s beaten the Cardinals his last two outings although this one was a lot better than a week earlier when he gave up five runs in six innings of a 10-5 victory.

Corey Hart added a two-run single in the ninth off Mitchell Boggs.

Four of the first five Brewers reached safely to open the game, although they settled for Fielder’s sacrifice fly. The Cardinals matched them in the bottom of the first on Rafael Furcal’s leadoff double, a sacrifice fly and Pujols’ sacrifice fly.

The Brewers took the lead in the third when Ryan Braun walked with one out, stole second and scored on Fielder’s double, and Yuniesky Betancourt made it 3-1 with a two-out single.

Westbrook (9-6) settled down after that, retiring 11 in a row before walking Fielder with one out in the eighth. He lasted eight innings despite matching his season high with five walks, three of them to the first 12 hitters.

Wolf’s only other bit of trouble came in the second when Ryan Theriot singled and Jon Jay doubled with two outs, but Westbrook lined out to center to end the inning.

— Associated Press —

Casey McGehee’s double snapped a 10th-inning tie and the Milwaukee Brewers won for the 12th time in 13 games, dealing another blow to their closest pursuers in the NL Central with a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

The Brewers’ 3-4-5 hitters had been 0-for-12 before extra innings when Prince Fielder singled to put runners at the corners ahead of McGehee’s double off Octavio Dotel (0-1). Yuniesky Betancourt added a sacrifice fly and John Axford finished for his 30th straight save and 33rd in 35 chances overall.

David Freese had an RBI single in his first game back from a concussion sustained from a beanball last Thursday for the Cardinals, who fell four games back after the opener of a three-game series.

— Associated Press —

Pitching to the St. Louis Cardinals’ big three didn’t work. Walking them backfired, too.

With another productive day by Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman, the Cardinals completed their first four-game series sweep on the road since 2004.

St. Louis foiled intentional walks to Pujols and Berkman during a three-run sixth inning Sunday, and Holliday drove in three runs with a pair of two-out singles to help beat the Florida Marlins 8-4.

In a single series, the Cardinals matched their longest winning streak of the season.

“It’s kind of unreal, really,” manager Tony La Russa said. “We’re going to enjoy the moment.”

“I’m glad they’re getting out of town,” Marlins manager Jack McKeon said.

Pujols hit his third home run of the series and his 27th this season, and his intentional walk backfired on the Marlins in the sixth inning, when Holliday followed with a tying single. The Marlins then intentionally walked Lance Berkman, and Jon Jay foiled that strategy with a two-run single.

Holliday said it was especially satisfying to produce after the walks.

“Mainly because you score a run and help the team,” he said. “Albert is one of the greatest players of all time. I get that they’re going to walk him a lot. But it does feel good when you come through.”

Sloppy defense plagued the Marlins all day, and after they tied the game at 4-all, the Cardinals took advantage of a throwing error by shortstop Emilio Bonifacio to score three unearned runs in the seventh. Ryan Theriot’s RBI single put St. Louis up 5-4, and Holliday added a two-run single.

Pujols, Holliday and Berkman combined to hit .438 (21 for 48) in the series with five home runs and 13 RBIs. It was the final game in the Marlins’ current home for the Cardinals, and their record in the stadium is 45-27, best in the NL.

This season the Marlins are having trouble beating anybody in Miami, where they’re 24-36. On the road they’re 31-23.

“I wish I could put my finger on it,” McKeon said. “It looks like we play so much more relaxed on the road. I suggest we play a few days with our road uniforms and see how that works out.”

Florida was swept in a four-game series at home for the second time in two months. It also happened against Milwaukee on June 3-6.

“When you play bad baseball against a good team, that’s what happens,” said Florida’s Javier Vazquez, who gave up four runs in six innings.

The Marlins’ new ballpark opening next season will have a retractable roof, and neither the home team nor the visitors will miss dealing with South Florida’s wet summer weather. The start of the game was delayed 81 minutes by rain, and drizzle fell throughout the final few innings.

About a thousand hardy fans remained until the end, and the majority seemed to be Cardinals rooters.

“You wish you didn’t have delays. You wish there were more fans in the stands,” La Russa said. “Both those things get taken care of next year.”

Florida’s Bryan Petersen hit his first major league homer, a two-run shot that tied the game when he pinch-hit with two out in the sixth.

The pitchers of record were a bit misleading. Mitchell Boggs (2-3) received credit for the victory despite giving up Petersen’s homer in the only inning he worked. Mike Dunn (5-6) took the loss even though he didn’t allow an earned run — the two runs charged against him were unearned because of Bonifacio’s error.

The Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia had his second consecutive five-inning outing. He departed for a pinch hitter trailing 2-1.

“If I’m not going deep in the games, I’m not getting the job done,” Garcia said.

— Associated Press —

Lance Lynn pitched himself into big trouble before getting the biggest out of his young career.

Lynn struck out Mike Stanton with the bases loaded to seal his first major league save, Lance Berkman’s second double of the game brought home Albert Pujols with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and the St. Louis Cardinals held on to beat the Florida Marlins 3-2 on Friday night.

Called upon because regular closer Fernando Salas was unavailable, Lynn gave up a hit and two walks in a 24-pitch roller-coaster of a ninth and held on anyway.

“A little out of control,” Lynn said. “I was able to regroup and get it done.”

Pujols doubled off Florida starter Anibal Sanchez (6-5) to lead off the eighth, and Berkman drove Sanchez’s final pitch of the game into center field to put St. Louis on top. Matt Holliday hit his 18th home run for St. Louis and Mitchell Boggs (1-3) threw a scoreless seventh for the win.

“I was excited. Something for Lance, something for Boggs, his first win, mostly our team and the excitement of the moment,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “You’re facing the next young superstar in our league with the bases loaded and nowhere to go with him and you end up getting a punchout, that’s a dramatic moment.”

Stanton had three hits, including a triple, and stole a base for the Marlins, who had a serious chance in the ninth.

Joe Thurston, selected earlier in the day by Florida from Triple-A New Orleans and back in the majors for the first time since 2009, singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth and the Marlins had runners on first and second after Dewayne Wise drew a one-out walk.

But Lynn — called on to close after Salas needed a combined 51 pitches in appearances Tuesday and Thursday — struck out Emilio Bonifacio on a 95 mph fastball and then, after walking Greg Dobbs on four pitches to load the bases, got Stanton swinging.

Sanchez gave up eight hits and three runs while striking out seven in 7 1/3 innings, and it still wasn’t enough to snap what now is a 10-game winless streak for the right-hander. He batted in the seventh, the Marlins clearly thinking he had one more inning of work left against the heart of the Cardinals’ order.

The move backfired after Pujols and Berkman doubled two batters apart, and the Marlins lost for the sixth time in their last eight home games.

“Albert got the better of him in that situation,” Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. “When you get in those situations you can’t let the big guys hurt you. Find a way.”

St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook gave up two runs and six hits in six innings, throwing 106 pitches on the steamy 89-degree night to help take some burden off a weary Cardinals bullpen.

The Marlins are already ailing up the middle defensively, with second baseman Omar Infante going on the disabled list Friday with a broken finger and shortstop Hanley Ramirez still dealing with a sprained left shoulder — and another blow came Friday, when center fielder Mike Cameron sprained his left hand.

Cameron was shaken up trying to make a diving catch, appearing to twist his wrist in the turf and writhing in pain for a few moments. Cameron remained in the game until the bottom of the sixth, when he was replaced by pinch-hitter Bryan Petersen.

Cameron was 2-for-2, raising his average to .177 for the season, .219 in 21 games with Florida.

“It got to the point where I didn’t want to make myself look like a fool swinging with one hand,” Cameron said. “It just got kind of worse over the course of the game. I just decided not to take any more chances.”

Florida opened the scoring in the third when Stanton — batting third for the first time in his career, just as Logan Morrison debuted in the cleanup spot — hit an RBI triple to the gap in right-center to score Dobbs. Morrison nearly made it 2-0, but Pujols ranged to his right to snare a sharp grounder that he flipped to Westbrook covering the bag to end the inning.

St. Louis took the lead in the fourth on Holliday’s leadoff homer, a double by Berkman and a run-scoring single two batters later by Gerald Laird. Buck pulled Florida into a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the home half of the fourth.

— Associated Press —