Kyle Lohse looks much better in 10-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates
Going into the first of a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday the St. Louis Cardinals were hoping for three things to happen: One, the gap between them and the Cincinnati Reds would get smaller; two, Kyle Lohse could win his second game of the season: and three, Albert Pujols could continue to make his case for a third straight MVP.
The Cardinals were able to accomplish all three as Kyle Lohse pitched in the sixth inning to earn his second win of the season in the 10-2 victory over the Pirates.
Lohse made his second start since coming off the disabled list. In his first start he was chased after only pitching three innings and giving up six hits and seven earned runs including two home runs in a loss to the Chicago Cubs. This time was much different. Lohse gave up six hits again but held the Pirates scoreless for five innings before giving up a home run to Garret Jones in the sixth inning.
The bullpen took over one out into the sixth inning and proceeded to hold the Pirates to two hits over the remainder of the game.
Albert Pujols continued to make his case for a third consecutive National League MVP award while he also chases the Triple Crown. The slugger went three for five in the night and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. Pujols hit home run No. 33 in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
With three hits on the night he improved his batting average to .319, four points behind Joey Votto for the highest batting average in the National League; he leads the National League in home runs with 33 and RBIs with 92.
The home run was also No. 399 for Pujols, putting him one away from becoming the 47th player in league history to hit 400.
“Early in the game like that you want to make sure we get something out of that,” Pujols said. “He gave me a good pitch to hit and I put my best swing on it and it went out of the park.”
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 68-54 on the season and with the Cincinnati Reds losing to the San Francisco Giants 11-2, were able to close the gap to two and a half games. Adam Wainwright will look to get a league best 18th win when he takes the mound for the Cardinals against Paul Maholm for the Pirates.
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