Cardinals and Pujols Hitting Their Stride

Tino Martinez is in a good spot these days -- hitting right behind Albert Pujols in St. Louis’ lineup.

Martinez and Pujols combined for eight hits and six RBIs to help the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-8, Saturday.

“It’s always fun to hit,” Martinez said. “It’s a great lineup to hit in to begin with. But hitting behind Albert, you know he’s going to be on base all the time.”

That was the case Saturday. Pujols had four hits in five at-bats, including two doubles, to increase his major league-leading average to .376.

He has a league-high 44 multihit games and has hit in at least 10 consecutive games for the third time this season. Pujols has 96 RBIs, second in the league behind Colorado’s Preston Wilson, who has 100.

“He’s a phenomenon because he’s so young,” Pittsburgh Manager Lloyd McClendon said. “We didn’t do a very good job against him.”

Martinez also had four hits in five at-bats with two RBIs and Scott Rolen hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals, who had 19 hits.

Rolen’s homer, his 21st, came with two outs in the fourth and gave the Cardinals a 7-2 lead.

“That’s pretty good after a tough game last night [a 10-5 loss]”, Pujols said. “We needed to come out and score right away.”

The hit everyone was talking about, however, was Jason Isringhausen’s bases-loaded triple in the eighth inning for his first hit with the Cardinals.

“I haven’t hit since ‘98,” Isringhausen said. “I was told not to swing, but I just couldn’t help myself.”

Isringhausen got an out in the eighth and gave up two runs in the ninth before finishing for his eighth save in nine opportunities.

Cardinal starter Woody Williams (14-3) benefited from the offensive outburst. He won his fourth consecutive start, giving up five runs and eight hits in a shaky 5 2/3 innings.

“I was lucky to get a win,” Williams said.

The Cardinals scored seven runs off Pittsburgh starter Josh Fogg (6-5), who is 1-4 with an 8.49 earned-run average in six starts against the Cardinals. He lasted only four innings and gave up 10 hits.