Pujols puts away Dodgers; drives home winning run in 15th inning

ST. LOUIS -- Albert Pujols lined a 3-2 pitch from Jeff Weaver over the head of center fielder Matt Kemp on Wednesday for a game-winning single that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals over the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in 15 innings.

Brendan Ryan led off the 15th with a triple past third. With the Dodgers' infield and outfield drawn in, pinch-hitter Jason LaRue popped out to first.

Julio Lugo walked to put runners at the corners for Mark DeRosa, who grounded sharply to shortstop Rafael Furcal.

Furcal's throw was off-target, but catcher Russell Martin applied the tag to a sliding Ryan for the second out. Pujols fell behind in the count 0-2 before rallying to 3-2. After fouling off a pitch, he drilled Weaver's next pitch over Kemp's head after Kemp had made one step in before trying to recover.

The Cardinals mobbed Pujols near second base as what remained of the crowd of 40,011 cheered wildly.

Rookie Blake Hawksworth (1-0) earned his first major-league win for the Cardinals. The rookie right-hander threw three scoreless innings, allowing one hit. He walked one and struck out three. Weaver, a former Cardinal, fell to 5-4.

It was the third win in the four-game series for the Cardinals (56-48), who maintained their one-half-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central. The teams will play again at 7:15 p.m. today.

Joe Thurston had an embarrassing moment in the Cardinals' 12th. He lined a drive into the right-field corner for what appeared to be a double against Guillermo Mota, but Thurston missed first base. The Dodgers appealed and first-base umpire Tim Timmons ruled Thurston out.

The Cardinals staged two dramatic rallies --one to send the game into extra innings, another to extend it.

Colby Rasmus' single tied the game in the ninth and Ryan Ludwick also had a game-tying single in the 11th.

Kemp's sacrifice fly in the 11th inning scored Casey Blake to put the Dodgers ahead 2-1. Blake, who led off the inning with a single against Ryan Franklin, advanced to third on James Loney's single to right.

Martin lined out to shortstop Ryan before Kemp hit a fly ball to medium-deep right. Ludwick made the catch, but his throw to catcher Yadier Molina drifted up the third-base line, and Blake was able to elude Molina's lunging tag.

But the Cardinals got a leadoff single from DeRosa in the 11th against Ramon Troncoso. Albert Pujols lined out, but Matt Holliday singled, and when Manny Ramirez slipped and fell after racing to cut off the ball, DeRosa went to third. Ludwick followed with a single to left to make it 2-2.

With the Dodgers leading 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth, closer Jonathan Broxton retired Pujols on a ground ball to Furcal, who made a nice play ranging far to his left. Holliday then struck out.

But Ludwick singled to bring Rasmus to the plate. A wild pitch sent Ludwick to second, and Rasmus followed with a broken-bat RBI single to left-center on a 3-1 offering to tie the game and send the crowd into a frenzy.

Rasmus was thrown out on a close play as he tried to steal second as the game advanced to extra innings.

Starting pitchers Joel Pineiro of the Cardinals and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers were outstanding.

Pineiro permitted one run (earned) on six hits, with two walks and a season-high seven strikeouts in eight innings. Kershaw, a second-year left-hander, allowed no runs on four hits, walked two and struck out seven in eight innings. Pineiro threw 112 pitches, 73 for strikes. Kershaw threw 112 pitches, 74 for strikes.

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Blake tripled with one out and scored on Loney's single. Ludwick attempted to make a diving catch on Blake's hit, but the ball fell in front of him and rolled to the wall.

Pujols led off the fourth with a double and Holliday walked. But Ludwick flied out to short right and Nick Stavinoha hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

St. Louis had runners at first and second with two outs in the seventh when Ryan hit a long drive to left. Ramirez, not known for his defense, reached to the top of the wall and made the catch.

The Cardinals escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the ninth when Kyle McClellan got pinch-hitter Mark Loretta on grounder to shortstop Ryan.

Contact reporter David Wilhelm at dwilhelm@bnd.com or 239-2665.