Pujols Keeps Up Homer Streak

When Albert Pujols is at the plate, there is no such thing as wasting a pitch.

Kansas City right-hander Scott Elarton learned the hard way Sunday when his delivery to the extreme outer part of the plate was driven by Pujols to the opposite field for a home run.

Pujols homered in his third straight game, and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals beat Kansas City, 10-3, on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep and send the Royals to their ninth straight loss.

“He’s an unbelievable hitter,” Elarton said. “He’s probably the best hitter in the game right now. I wanted to waste a pitch [with the count 1-2]. I felt like I had a pitch to waste, and he hit it out of the ballpark.”

Pujols, who leads the majors with 22 home runs in St. Louis’ 44 games, reached the homer mark in the second-fewest games in baseball history. Barry Bonds did it in 43 games in 2001.

“It’s not about me,” Pujols said. “It’s about the team. We got three wins, and that’s what we want to do.”

Next up for the Cardinals is a three-game series at San Francisco, where Bonds is tied with Babe Ruth for second place all-time with 714 home runs.

“He’s put up some great numbers in his career,” Pujols said. “He’s the best player in baseball right now.”

Chicago Cubs 7, Chicago White Sox 4 -- Michael Barrett, booed for his punch that set off a melee the day before, delivered a game-tying triple, and Jacque Jones followed with a two-run homer in the eighth as the visiting Cubs rallied to avert a sweep in their three-game series with the White Sox.

Carlos Zambrano (3-2) got the win, giving up four hits in seven innings, including two homers to Paul Konerko.

With the White Sox leading, 4-2, and Jose Contreras looking strong in his first start since May 4 after coming off the disabled list, the Cubs rallied, thanks to a poor throw from White Sox shortstop Juan Uribe on a potential double play.

Philadelphia 10, Boston 5 -- Bobby Abreu drove in five runs at Philadelphia to help the Phillies end a five-game losing streak.

Abreu singled, tripled and homered, and Ryan Howard also homered for the Phillies, who won 13 of 14 before their losing streak began.

Needing a double for the cycle, Abreu walked on five pitches against Rudy Seanez in the seventh. He finished three for three with two walks.

New York Mets 4, New York Yankees 3 -- Billy Wagner rebounded from Saturday’s disaster, and the Mets got consecutive home runs from Carlos Delgado and David Wright to take two of three from the Yankees at Shea Stadium.

Tom Glavine (7-2) won his fifth straight start. Pitching for the third straight day, Wagner gave up two singles in the ninth but retired Miguel Cairo on a grounder with two on to end it. The Yankees had rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the ninth against Wagner on Saturday and won, 5-4, in the 11th.

Tampa Bay 3, Florida 0 -- Scott Kazmir gave up four hits and matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in eight innings, leading the Devils Rays past Dontrelle Willis and the Marlins at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Kazmir (7-2) held the Marlins to three singles and Miguel Cabrera’s fourth-inning double en route to a career-best fifth straight win. At 22, he’s the youngest major league pitcher to win seven games this early in a season since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.

Willis (1-5) gave up eight hits in his first complete game of the season.

Detroit 1, Cincinnati 0 -- Placido Polanco’s pinch-hit single in the eighth inning broke a scoreless tie, and Nate Robertson tossed 7 1/3 innings to lead the Tigers at Detroit.

Robertson struck out seven and gave up three hits. Fernando Rodney (3-1) and Todd Jones combined to throw 1 2/3 hitless innings, with Jones getting his 13th save.

Washington 3, Baltimore 1 -- Livan Hernandez ended a seven-start winless streak in helping lift the Nationals at Washington.

Hernandez (2-5) limited Baltimore to one run in seven innings, despite giving up four walks and six hits. He hadn’t won since April 8 at Houston.

Cleveland 3, Pittsburgh 2 -- Grady Sizemore singled home the winning run with two out in the 10th inning at Cleveland to give Bob Wickman his first win in nearly four years.

Wickman (1-0) earned his first win since he threw a scoreless inning for Cleveland against Texas on Aug. 10, 2002. He also worked two innings for the first time since July 7, 2001.

Houston 5, Texas 0 -- Taylor Buchholz (3-3) pitched a five-hitter at Houston for his first career shutout. Morgan Ensberg and Jason Lane had two-run homers for Houston.

Milwaukee 5, Minnesota 3 -- Carlos Lee’s two-run double keyed a four-run seventh inning to lift Brewers over the Twins at Milwaukee.

Chris Capuano (5-3) won for the first time in four starts.

The Brewers rallied against reliever Jesse Crain (0-2), who gave up four runs while getting only one out.

Colorado 5, Toronto 3 -- Garrett Atkins drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double, Josh Fogg ended a six-game winless streak, and the Rockies completed a three-game sweep at Denver to match their best start at 25-19 after 44 games.

Fogg (3-2) gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Seattle 10, San Diego 8 -- Raul Ibanez and Carl Everett homered during an eight-run second inning to help the Mariners sweep a three-game series against the Padres.

Chan Ho Park (2-2) gave up 10 runs in 5 1/3 innings, the most earned runs he had yielded since June 21, 1998. Felix Hernandez (3-5) won despite giving up seven earned runs.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Atlanta 2, Arizona 1 -- Tim Hudson pitched eight scoreless innings to lead the Braves at Phoenix. Hudson (4-3) gave up six hits and three walks.

Edgar Renteria had a run-scoring double for Atlanta, and Andruw Jones drove in the other run on a groundout.