PUJOLS' 3RD HR WINS GAME FOR CARDS
STL LF Goes 5-For-5, Scores and Drives in 4

ST. LOUIS, July 2 (AP) - Albert Pujols' third home run of the game was of the walk-off variety as the St. Louis Cardinals won a seesaw affair, 6-5, over the San Fransisco Giants at Busch Stadium.  Pujols hit three home runs in a game just hours after Michael Young of the Texas Rangers accomplished the same feat during a matinee affair against the Angels in Anaheim.  Four different major leaguers have gone deep three times in a game in the last three days.

The Cardinals took an early lead over Jerome Williams and the Giants, scoring twice in the very first inning.  Orlando Palmeiro singled with one out and Pujols belted his 20th home run of the season.

But the Giants came back with three runs of their own in the top of the third.  Rich Aurilia drew a lead-off walk from San Francisco starter Garrett Stephenson and, one out later, Barry Bonds drew a free pass of his own, leaving runners at first and second.  Benito Santiago then drove an 0-1 pitch over the left field wall for his eighth home runs of the year and a 3-2 San Francisco lead.

St. Louis regained the lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth on RBI singles off the bats of Tino Martinez and Jim Edmonds.

But the Giants moved ahead again with a pair of tallies in the sixth.  Neifi Perez walked with one out and, after Aurilia flied to left, Marquis Grissom gave San Francisco a 5-4 advantage by homering just inside the left field foul pole.

The Cardinals tied the game in the seventh when Pujols hit his second home run of the contest, a one-out solo shot, off reliver Felix Rodriguez.

After Jason Isringhausen set the Giants down in order in the top of the ninth, Joe Nathan came on for San Francisco in the bottom half and quickly retired Bo Hart and Palmeiro.  That brought Pujols to the plate and, despite working carefully, Nathan moved ahead in the count, 1-2.  But then the Giants right-hander made a mistake with a slider and Pujols drilled the pitch into the left field bullpen to win the game.

Pujols finished the contest with five hits--four of them for extra bases--and both scored and drove in four runs.  His 15 total bases are the most by a player in either league in a single game thus far this season.

7/2/2003, SF03-StL03, Busch Stadium
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2003 Giants            0  0  3  0  0  2  0  0  0     5 10  0     9  2
2003 Cardinals         2  0  0  1  1  0  1  0  1     6 14  1     7  0
 
Giants               AB  R  H BI   AVG    Cardinals            AB  R  H BI   AVG
Perez,N           2b  4  1  1  0  .201    Hart              2b  5  0  0  0  .254
Aurilia           ss  4  1  0  0  .313    Palmeiro,O        rf  5  1  1  0  .315
Grissom           cf  5  1  2  2  .303    Pujols            lf  5  4  5  4  .373
Bonds             lf  3  1  1  0  .342    Edmonds           cf  4  0  2  1  .271
Santiago,B        c   5  1  1  3  .278    Rolen             3b  4  0  0  0  .287
Cruz,Jo           rf  3  0  0  0  .250    Renteria          ss  4  1  1  0  .283
Feliz             1b  4  0  3  0  .278    Martinez,T        1b  3  0  2  1  .232
 Rodriguez,Fe     p   0  0  0  0  .000    Widger            c   4  0  1  0  .250
 Nathan           p   0  0  0  0  .000    Stephenson        p   1  0  1  0  .214
Alfonzo           3b  4  0  1  0  .284     Painter          p   0  0  0  0  .000
Williams,J        p   2  0  1  0  .125     Perez,EA         ph  1  0  1  0  .287
 Durham           ph  1  0  0  0  .288     Fassero          p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Zerbe            p   0  0  0  0  .000     Robinson         ph  1  0  0  0  .177
 Galarraga        1b  1  0  0  0  .296     Isringhausen     p   0  0  0  0  .000
                     36  5 10  5                               37  6 14  6
 
Giants                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Williams,J                       5.0  9  4  4  1  5  74  47  4.47
Zerbe            H 3             1.1  2  0  0  0  0  10   8  4.25
Rodriguez,Fe     BS 3            1.2  2  1  1  0  3  30  19  3.75
Nathan           L 3-1           0.2  1  1  1  0  1  12   9  2.41
                                 8.2 14  6  6  1  9 126  83
 
Cardinals                        INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Stephenson                       5.2  9  5  5  5  3 124  69  6.27
Painter                          0.1  0  0  0  0  0   8   5  1.50
Fassero                          2.0  1  0  0  0  1  16  11  5.66
Isringhausen     W 1-0           1.0  0  0  0  0  1  11   6  1.35
                                 9.0 10  5  5  5  5 159  91
 
SF : Durham batted for Williams,J in the 6th
     Galarraga inserted at 1b in the 7th
StL: Perez,EA batted for Painter in the 6th
     Robinson batted for Fassero in the 8th
 
E-Renteria. 2B-Perez,N(6), Pujols(25), Perez,EA(7). HR-Grissom(14),
Santiago,B(8), Pujols 3(22). RBI-Grissom 2(48), Santiago,B 3(40),
Pujols 4(68), Edmonds(49), Martinez,T(36). SB-Renteria(16). K-Grissom, Bonds,
Santiago,B, Cruz,Jo, Galarraga, Hart, Palmeiro,O, Edmonds, Rolen 2, Renteria,
Martinez,T, Widger, Robinson. BB-Perez,N, Aurilia, Bonds 2, Cruz,Jo,
Martinez,T. HBP-Stephenson. HB-Williams,J. WP-Stephenson.
GWRBI: Pujols
Temperature: 102, Sky: clear, Wind: right to left at 15 MPH.
Attendance: 34,997
Game Time: 3:02