St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) – Albert Pujols homered twice as part of a three-hit night and drove in five runs, pacing St. Louis to an 8-0 hammering of the Diamondbacks.
Arizona committed two errors in the ninth inning of a 6-5 loss on Monday, but the suspense in the middle installment of this three-game set was taken away quickly as Pujols belted two-run homers in the third and fifth innings.
Adam Wainwright (11-5) struck out seven batters in 6 1/3 shutout innings. The right-hander allowed five hits and walked three, but moved to 8-0 this season at Busch Stadium.
Felipe Lopez went 4-for-5 with three runs scored for the Cardinals.
Pujols tied Stan Musial for the Cardinals record with 37 career multi-homer games.
“You have to be amazing to do that in your 10th year to be in the sentence with Stan,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said.
Dontrelle Willis (1-1) surrendered seven hits and five runs over four-plus innings for Arizona, which lost for the 18th time in its last 21 road games.
Lopez singled leading off the bottom of the third and Pujols followed with his 17th homer of the season, a blast to left.
Wainwright escaped a bases-loaded, no-out pickle in the fifth by fanning Willis, getting Kelly Johnson to ground into a force play and then retiring Tony Abreu on a line out to short.
“Against Wainwright in a 2-0 game, you certainly have to come away with at least one to cut it in half, if not tie the game or go ahead,” Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch said.
The Cardinals tacked on four runs in the fifth, again started by a familiar tandem. Lopez singled to begin the frame and Pujols crushed Willis’ first offering over the wall in right. Wainwright singled in a run later in the frame and Aaron Miles followed with an RBI double for a commanding 6-0 lead.
Pujols stroked an RBI double in the sixth and then scored on a wild pitch from Sam Demel.
The Cardinals placed third baseman David Freese on the 15-day disabled list due to a bone bruise in his right ankle. To take his spot on the roster, the team recalled reliever Fernando Salas from Triple-A Memphis.