Pujols’ 14th Homer Is a Record Breaker

Albert Pujols set a major league record with his 14th homer in April, a tiebreaking shot in the eighth inning that sent the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Saturday.

After NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Carpenter and All-Star Livan Hernandez locked up in a pitchers’ duel, Pujols broke a 1-1 tie when he connected off Jon Rauch (0-1) leading off the eighth.

Jason Isringhausen walked the bases loaded in the ninth before retiring Nick Johnson on a comebacker for his seventh save in nine opportunities. Johnson finished 0 for 5, dropping his batting average to .352.

Jose Guillen homered for the Nationals.

Pujols had been tied with Ken Griffey Jr. (1997) and Luis Gonzalez (2001) for the most home runs in April at 13.

The St. Louis slugger also leads the majors with 32 runs batted in, matching the team record for April set by Mark McGwire in 1998.

“I don’t play for records -- I play to win games,” Pujols said. “It definitely was good today to hit it and at the same time to win the game.”

San Francisco 3, Arizona 2 -- Randy Winn made two spectacular plays in left field in the top of the ninth inning, and Moises Alou homered leading off the bottom half to give the Giants the victory.

Winn, starting in left because Barry Bonds was given a day off, made a sliding catch in left-center to rob Shawn Green of a hit and then topped that effort on the next batter. Winn leaped high above the wall to rob Eric Byrnes of a potential go-ahead home run, getting a standing ovation from the crowd and hearty congratulations from his teammates as he ran off the field.

Cincinnati 6, Houston 3 -- Aaron Harang earned his fourth consecutive victory and the streaking Reds set a club record for wins in April by beating the Astros at Cincinnati. The Reds (17-7) extended their winning streak to six.

Milwaukee 16, Chicago 2 -- Prince Fielder hit two of his team’s six homers, Rickie Weeks connected for his first leadoff shot and the Brewers had their biggest offensive outburst in six years in a victory at Chicago.

New York 1, Atlanta 0 -- Tom Glavine outpitched John Thomson, improving to 3-9 in 14 starts against the Braves, and Paul Lo Duca hit his first home run for the Mets in a victory at Atlanta.

Pittsburgh 3, Philadelphia 2 -- Paul Maholm tossed seven strong innings at Pittsburgh and Jeromy Burnitz hit a two-run homer for the Pirates, who clinched their first series victory of the season.

Colorado 8, Florida 7 -- Garrett Atkins homered and drove in three runs at Miami to lead the Rockies to their third straight win.