With Major League Baseball’s non-waiver deadline approaching this Sunday, July 31, the St. Louis Cardinals today announced a multi-player trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Cardinals have acquired right handed pitcher Edwin Jackson, right handed reliever Octavio Dotel, left handed reliever Marc Rzepczynski (pronounced Zep-CHIN-ski), outfielder Corey Patterson and three players to be named later or cash considerations.   St. Louis sends outfielder Colby Rasmus, pitchers P.J. Walters, Trever Miller and Brian Tallet to Toronto.   The Jays acquired Jackson earlier today in a deal with the Chicago White Sox.

“We feel that this deal strengthens us in a number of key areas,” said Cardinals’ Senior Vice President/ General Manager John Mozeliak.  “Trades of this nature are never easy to make, but we felt that it was important to solidify a number of areas on our ball club to better position ourselves for what looks to be a highly competitive divisional race.”

Jackson, 27, was 7-7 with a 3.92 ERA for the White Sox this season.  He’s compiled a career mark of 55-58 with a 4.53 ERA, winning 14 games in 2008 for Tampa Bay and 13 games in 2009 for Detroit.  He threw a no-hitter for Arizona on June 25, 2010 at Tampa Bay.

Rzepczynski, 25, was 2-3 with a 2.97 ERA and 10 Holds for Toronto this season and he has been used as both a reliever and starter since debuting with Toronto in 2009.

Dotel, 37, had a 2-1 mark, one save, four Holds and a 3.68 ERA in 36 games for the Jays this season and he has 106 career saves, combining for a career-high 36 in 2004 with Houston and Oakland.

Patterson, 31, was batting .252 this year with 6 homers, 33 RBI and 13 steals.  His career marks include a .253 BA with 118 HR’s, 428 RBI and 218 steals.  Patterson hit a career-high 24 homers for the Cubs in 2004 and he swiped a career-best 45 steals for Baltimore in 2006.

— Cardinals Media Relations —

Albert Pujols got the St. Louis Cardinals off to a quick start with a two-run first inning homer and starter Jake Westbrook made it hold up with six innings of one-run ball as the Cardinals defeated the slumping Houston Astros 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Pujols hit the first pitch he saw from Houston starter Brett Myers on a line to left center field. The ball appeared to hit the top of the wall but was ruled a home run by third-base umpire Mike DiMuro. Houston center fielder Michael Bourn and left fielder Carlos Lee rushed in to dispute the call, which was subsequently reviewed by replay and upheld for Pujols’ 23rd homer.

It was the third time in the last six games that Pujols has homered in the first inning.

David Freese later cleared the fence with ease on an opposite field shot for the Cardinals, who have won five of six.

The Astros are going in the other direction. Houston fell to 0-5 on its season-long 10-game road trip and 0-4 at Busch Stadium.

Lee had an RBI single in the third for Houston’s only run. He drove in Bourn, who had doubled to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Houston had plenty of chances against Westbrook (9-4), who allowed seven hits and a walk in his six innings. But the Astros went 2-for-17 with runners on base and 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

Fernando Salas struck out the side in the ninth for his 19th save in 22 opportunities.

Myers (3-11) settled down after the Pujols’ blast, allowing just Freese’s solo shot with two-out in the sixth. He gave up 11 hits but just the three runs with no walks and four strikeouts in eight innings of work while falling to 0-4 in the month of July.

— Associated Press —

Xavier Paul was running. No matter what.

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ reserve watched the ball off the bat of teammate Chase d’Arnaud slice into the outfield with one out in the 10th inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday and decided he was taking off regardless of where the it landed.

“It was extra-inning ballgame,” Paul said. “I felt like it was deep enough. I’m going to make him make a perfect throw to get me out.”

St. Louis center fielder Colby Rasmus tracked down the ball but his throw to the plate never had a chance. Paul sprinted home with the winning run in a 4-3 victory as the Pirates avoided a three-game sweep.

“I think in that situation right there it’s do or die,” Paul said. “No way you’re going to get the chance to win the game (again). It’s just a hustle play and it worked out in our favor.”

It’s what the Pirates have done all year. Though they lack the firepower of the other three NL Central contenders, they’ve made up for it by finding enough ways to win to remain in the thick of things well after the Fourth of July.

“Throughout the season that’s the way we’ve had to do it, that’s the way we’ll continue to plan on doing it,” said manager Clint Hurdle.

The sprint home was the third hustle play by Paul in the span of a minute. He reached first by beating out an infield single, then moved to third after stealing second and taking advantage when the throw from St. Louis catcher Gerald Laird rolled into center.

“He goes a hard 90 (feet), beats the play at first and next thing you know he’s on third after you try and steal a base,” Hurdle said. “That’s what we do and that’s what we need to do.”

Joe Beimel (1-1) retired the Cardinals in order to pick up his first victory as a Pirate in more than eight years as Pittsburgh snapped a three-game losing streak heading into a brutal stretch on the road against NL East leaders Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Ronny Cedeno and rookie catcher Eric Fryer had two hits apiece for the Pirates, who were badly outplayed in the first two games of the series but rallied three times on Sunday to prevent the sweep.

“We had a chance to win, we just couldn’t get it done,” said Laird, who committed two errors and was picked off of second base in the eighth. “In close games like that you’ve got to execute small ball and obviously make plays and we didn’t make plays and we gave them opportunities and they capitalized.”

Rasmus had two hits, including his 10th homer of the season for the Cardinals, who blew their 19th save of the season to fall into a virtual tie with the Pirates in the standings as their three-game winning streak ended with a thud. Jason Motte (3-2) took the loss in part because he failed to beat Paul to the bag on Paul’s infield chopper in the 10th.

“We did some fundamental things right; we also did some fundamental things wrong, so you end up losing a winnable game,” said St. Louis manager Tony La Russa. “You don’t play perfectly all the time, nobody does.”

Jon Jay and Skip Schumaker also had two hits for the Cardinals, who appeared to be in charge after Rasmus’ deep homer to right field in the sixth off starter Charlie Morton put them up 3-2.

Pittsburgh rallied for the third time in the seventh to tie it by getting to St. Louis reliever Lance Lynn.

Cedeno led off the inning with a double and moved to third when Lynn and third baseman Daniel Descalso miscommunicated on a bunt attempt by Fryer. Cedeno tied it up on a double play by Steve Pearce and Pittsburgh’s bullpen shut the door.

The Cardinals never got a runner to third over the final 4 2/3 innings, as Jason Grilli, Chris Resop, Joel Hanrahan and Beimel held them in check.

“It took everybody again today and they were lights out,” Hurdle said.

They had to be to keep the Pirates close after Pittsburgh’s offense struggled against St. Louis starter Kyle Lohse.

The veteran right-hander has struggled this month, entering the game with an 0-3 mark and a 7.64 ERA in July.

The team was so concerned about his performance it ordered the 32-year-old back to St. Louis last week to have the inflammation on the middle finger of his pitching hand examined.

The tests revealed no significant damage and he was effective if not overpowering against Pittsburgh’s slumping lineup. Lohse gave up two runs in five innings, striking out four while throwing 45 of his 64 pitches for strikes.

“Little sore, but I felt like I pretty much was able to make the pitches I needed to make, so I’m just doing more treatment and hope it feels better next time,” Lohse said.

His numbers would have been even better if not for some uncharacteristically sloppy defense.

The Pirates scratched a run across in the third behind the first career steal by Fryer, who advanced to third when shortstop Ryan Theriot misplayed the throw from Laird.

The steal was the first against Lohse since Pittsburgh’s Jose Tabata swiped second against him on Aug. 23, 2010. The sequence was repeated almost exactly in the 10th as the Pirates avoided their longest losing streak since dropping six straight in May.

They have a boost heading into a tough week, while the Cardinals begin a user-friendly portion of the schedule with home series this week against also-rans Houston and Chicago, who began the day a combined 32½ games out of first.

“For the most part, we can build off this series,” Laird said. “You always want to win series, and we won this one today. Hopefully we can make a push here because this division is getting tight.”

— Associated Press —