ST. LOUIS — John Smoltz showed his St. Louis Cardinals debut was no fluke Friday night, striking out six and allowing a run in six innings in his first home start.
Albert Pujols' 41st home run leading off the bottom of the ninth made it a successful night for the rest of the team in a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals.
Pujols hit a 1-1 pitch from Jason Bergmann (2-4) well over the left field wall for his eighth career game-ending home run and first since July 13, 2006.
The National League Central leaders have won 16 of 20 despite recent offensive struggles, leaning on a rotation bolstered by the 42-year-old Smoltz, who has a 0.82 ERA after two starts with theCardinals.
Smoltz, released by the Boston Red Sox earlier this month after going 2-5 with an 8.33 ERA, struggled only in the third, allowing two hits and a sacrifice fly. He retired the last seven hitters with only one ball out of the infield.
Khalil Greene's first career pinch hit home run tied it 2-2 in the eighth against Nationals starter John Lannan, who allowed 2 runs and 4 hits in 8 innings. Greene's sixth home run came in his first at-bat since Aug. 20.
Jason Motte (4-4) worked around a one-out double by Elijah Dukes in the ninth.
Josh Bard, a .385 career hitter against St. Louis, put the Nationals ahead 2-1 with an RBI double off Blake Hawksworth in the seventh.
The Cardinals won despite going 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position.
The Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs in the second but settled forone run on Yadier Molina's double-play ball.
CUBS 5, METS 2
Alfonso Soriano ended his home-run drought with a three-run shot in the eighth inning, making up for several miscues in the outfield as host Chicago beat New York. Milton Bradley led off the inning with a double to right, his third hit. Hescored on Aramis Ramirez's single, tying the game 2-2. After reliever Brian Stokes walked Jeff Baker, Soriano hit an 0-2 pitch through a steady breeze and into the front row of the bleachers in left-center field. It was his first home run since July 29. Soriano's 20th home run of the year was a birthday present for 66-year-old Cubs Manager Lou Piniella, whose team has won only 7 of 21 games since Aug. 7. In those three weeks, Chicago fell from a first-place tie to nine behind NL Central-leading St. Louis. The Mets have lost 6 of 7. A sinking liner to left skipped past Soriano, who also had dropped a shallow fly.
REDS 4, DODGERS 2
Right-hander Homer Bailey (4-4) allowed only seven singles and had a careerhigh seven strikeouts while going eight innings for the first time in his career as host Cincinnati beat Los Angeles for its season-high fifth consecutive victory.
BREWERS 8, PIRATES 6
Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Jason Bourgeois homered as Milwaukee ended a three-game losing streak, beating Pittsburgh for the 19th consecutive time at Miller Park.
PADRES 9, MARLINS 5
Will Venable hit two RBI singles and Kyle Blanks hit a two-run home run in San Diego's six-run second inning against host Florida.
PHILLIES 4, BRAVES 2
Ryan Howard hit twohome runs, including a two-run shot, and a double and walked as host Philadelphia beat Atlanta.
American League TWINS 3, RANGERS 2 Rookie Brian Duensing (2-1), making his third major league start, had eight strikeouts in seven innings, allowed three hits and walked one as host Minnesota beat Texas.
YANKEES 5, WHITE SOX 2 Robinson Cano hit a three-run home run after Hideki Matsui and Nick Swisher each walked on four pitches with two outs in the 10th as host New York beat Chicago.
TIGERS 6, RAYS 2 Brandon Inge homered and scored twice as host Detroit beat Tampa Bay.
ORIOLES 13, INDIANS 4 Rookie Matt Wieters had three hits and a career-high four RBI as host Baltimore beat Cleveland.
RED SOX 6, BLUE JAYS 5 J.D. Drew had two hits, including an eighth-inning double, as host Boston beat Toronto. David Ortiz walked and went to third on Drew's double. Jason Varitek was intentionally walked, then pinch hitter Casey Kotchman hit a hard grounder that first baseman Lyle Overbay knocked down, but he could only get the force at second as Ortiz scored to make it 6-5.
Sports, Pages 24 on 08/29/2009