Pujols helps Cardinals rally for 12-7 victory over Mets as New York bullpen falters again

Cardinals rally to beat skidding Mets

NEW YORK — Albert Pujols made it sound so simple. All he had to do to snap out of his brief slump was make sure he had good swings.

Facing the New York Mets’ pitching may have helped, too. Whatever the reason, Pujols put that mini-funk behind him in style Tuesday night.

Pujols hit a grand slam in the 10th inning for his second homer of the game and the Cardinals rallied for a 12-7 victory over the sliding New York Mets.

“I’m human. I’m not a machine,” said Pujols, disputing a popular SportsCenter commercial on ESPN. “I work hard. I’m ready every day. I didn’t put my head down. I don’t change myself and I don’t change my approach.”

Pujols finished with four hits and five RBIs for the Cardinals, ending an 0 for 13 skid with his ninth multihomer game of the season. Ryan Ludwick also went deep and drove in two runs for St. Louis.

The Cardinals scored eight times in the last three innings to hand New York its fifth loss in six games. With two out and the bases loaded in the 10th, Sean Green replaced Pedro Feliciano (4-4) and hit Mark DeRosa on the left elbow with his first pitch to give St. Louis an 8-7 lead.

With the Citi Field crowd still jeering Green, Pujols hit an 0-2 pitch into the seats in left to tie Ernie Banks’ NL record of five slams in a season. The All-Star slugger is 7 for 9 with 24 RBIs with the bases loaded this year. He is one slam behind the major league record for a season held by Travis Hafner and Don Mattingly.

Kyle McClellan (3-2) pitched a scoreless 10th for St. Louis, which managed to get the win despite a shaky outing by Joel Pineiro.

Johan Santana hit a two-run double and pitched eight innings for New York, which had lost four of five. Gary Sheffield had two hits and two RBIs.

Santana allowed five runs and nine hits. He is 3-1 with a 2.52 ERA in his last five starts.

St. Louis scored two runs in the ninth to tie it at 7 and hand Francisco Rodriguez his fourth blown save in 28 opportunities this season. Rick Ankiel and Julio Lugo opened the inning with consecutive doubles, and Skip Schumaker had an RBI single with one out.

The Cardinals went on to load the bases with two down but Rodriguez got Ryan Ludwick to pop out on his 41st pitch of the inning.

Pujols ended an 0-for-13 skid with a single in the fourth, doubled in the fifth and hit a massive drive into the Big Apple well in center in the eighth for his first homer since he hit two against Arizona on July 17.

Santana retired the next three batters after Pujols’ shot, getting some help from his defense. Gold Glove third baseman David Wright picked up Yadier Molina’s liner off Santana’s left leg and made a nice throw to first to end the inning.

New York scored three in the second and four in the fifth against Piniero, who had been on a nice little roll. The right-hander was 4-1 with a 1.37 ERA in his previous seven starts and 3-0 with a 2.91 ERA against the Mets for his career, including a masterful two-hit shutout at Citi Field on June 23.

Matt Holliday singled in Pujols in the fifth to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead. Pujols hit a drive into the left-field corner with two out to tie Rogers Hornsby for fourth on the club’s career list with 367 doubles.

New York responded in the bottom half. With runners on first and second, Sheffield hit Pineiro’s first pitch to the wall in left-center and Daniel Murphy followed with another double that landed in almost the exact same spot. Alex Cora tacked on a two-out RBI single to make it 7-4.

The injury-riddled Mets lost another player when Luis Castillo slipped on the dugout steps and sprained his left ankle after he grounded out leading off the seventh. Angel Berroa came in to play shortstop in the eighth and Cora moved to second to replace Castillo, who went 1 for 3 and scored a run.

NOTES: Mets SS Jose Reyes returned to New York on Monday night and was examined by team doctors on Tuesday because of continuing discomfort in his right leg. Reyes, who has been out since May with a couple of leg injuries, was rehabbing in Florida. … Troy Glaus’ bulging disk in his lower back has not responded to treatment, forcing the Cardinals to shut down his minor league rehab assignment. The third baseman was examined by team doctors in St. Louis over the weekend and the club said it will be a week to 10 days before he’s able to resume baseball activities.