Grudzielanek Hits for Cycle

Even after getting a home run, single and double in his first three at-bats, Mark Grudzielanek wasn’t thinking about hitting for the cycle until teammate Albert Pujols began rooting him on.

“He was saying ‘You’ve got to do it, you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to go for it,’ ” Grudzielanek said after helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3, Wednesday at St. Louis. “I didn’t think the opportunity would come, but it sure did. It’s weird how it happens.”

Grudzielanek, batting in the leadoff spot for the second time this year, hit the second leadoff homer of his career in a three-run first inning. He singled and scored in the second, had an RBI double in the fourth and tripled off Jorge De La Rosa in the sixth.

Grudzielanek might have been the least likely Cardinal to hit for the cycle: He entered Wednesday’s game with only two triples in 1,333 at-bats over the last four seasons.

The former Dodger, who grounded out in the eighth, is the first Cardinal to hit for the cycle since John Mabry on May 18, 1996, at Colorado.

Chris Carpenter (4-1) equaled his career best with 12 strikeouts for St. Louis, which has won 11 of 12.

San Francisco 10, San Diego 3 -- Kirk Rueter finally got enough run support for his first win of the season and Pedro Feliz hit a three-run homer on his 30th birthday at San Francisco. Feliz hit a pitch from Tim Redding (0-4) over the left-field wall in a six-run fourth inning.

Rueter (1-2) pitched 5 2/3 strong innings in his fifth start of the season. He retired the first nine batters and 11 of 12 before Phil Nevin doubled to left leading off the fifth.

Pittsburgh 2, Houston 0 -- Kip Wells yielded four hits over seven innings at Pittsburgh and Jose Mesa earned his 300th career save as the Pirates won their first series of the season and handed the Astros their fifth consecutive loss.

Wells (2-3) worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the first by getting Jason Lane to fly out before settling down to give up only two more hits.

Chicago 8, Cincinnati 7 -- Derrek Lee had two home runs and six RBIs, and Corey Patterson hit a one-out homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Cubs the victory. Patterson connected off Matt Belisle (1-3) after Neifi Perez popped up a bunt to start the inning.

Atlanta 8, New York 4 -- Andruw Jones broke out of a three-for-47 slump with a homer and three hits to lead the Braves. Wilson Betemit hit his first major league home run and Eddie Perez also homered for the Braves, who beat former teammate Tom Glavine (1-3) and took two of three from their East Division rivals at Shea Stadium.

Philadelphia 3, Washington 0 -- Jimmy Rollins broke a scoreless tie in the ninth inning at Washington with a leadoff homer. He pulled a pitch just over the right-field fence, spoiling a masterful pitching performance by Esteban Loaiza (0-2), who faced only three batters over the minimum through eight innings.

Florida at Colorado, ppd. -- The game at Coors Field was postponed because of rain and snow. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader today. The start of the game was delayed 1 hour 33 minutes because of rain. Light snow started falling in the second inning.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Making a Mark

Mark Grudzielanek hit for the cycle Wednesday to lead the Cardinals to a 6-3 victory over the Brewers. Here is how he fared in each of his five at-bats:

* First inning: Homered off Victor Santos.

* Second inning: Singled off Santos.

* Fourth inning: Doubled off Santos.

* Sixth inning: Tripled off Jorge De La Rosa.

* Eighth inning: Grounded out off Tommy Phelps.