Cards Beat Cubs 6-4

Monday, August 20th 2007, 5:39 pm

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) _ Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel homered, Scott Rolen drove in three runs with a pair of doubles and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 Monday, moving within three games of the NL Central lead.

The game was delayed 1 hours, 27 minutes by rain in the bottom of the seventh.

The Cardinals salvaged one win in what was to have been a four-game series before the Sunday night's game was postponed. Chicago won on Friday and Saturday.

The Cubs began play Monday one game ahead of Milwaukee in the division. The Brewers faced the Diamondbacks in Arizona.

Pujols hit his 28th homer in the fifth, and Rolen had a two-run double in the first and a run-scoring double in the third.

Ankiel, the pitcher-turned-outfielder, made a great throw in the first to cut down Chicago leadoff hitter Ryan Theriot when he tried to stretch a double into a triple. Leading off the seventh against rookie Carmen Pignatiello, he hit his fourth homer to put St. Louis up 6-4.

Joel Pineiro (3-1), who spent most of his season in the Red Sox bullpen before being acquired at the trade deadline, went five innings to win his third straight start. He allowed three runs and seven hits, including back-to-back homers to Daryle Ward and Mark DeRosa in the second inning. Derrek Lee homered off Troy Percival in the sixth.

The Cubs had first and second against closer Jason Isringhausen in the eighth after a walk and Ward's single, but DeRosa hit into a double play. Isringhausen also worked a perfect ninth for his 23rd save in 25 chances.

Cubs starter Ted Lilly (13-6), who was 8-1 in his previous 10 starts, gave up seven hits and five runs over six innings.

The Cardinals broke a 2-2 tie in the third. Pujols walked, Juan Encarnacion doubled and then Rolen hit a two-hopper toward third. Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez lost his footing as the ball bounded by him for an RBI double to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead. Jim Edmonds followed with a run-scoring grounder and St. Louis had a two-run cushion.

The Cubs then bunched singles from Theriot, Derrek Lee and Ramirez to make it 4-3 in the bottom half. Pujols' long homer to left made it 5-3 in the fifth.

Lee hit reliever Percival's first pitch for his 14th homer, cutting it to 5-4 in the sixth. One out later, Ward greeted Randy Flores with a double, but Ryan Franklin ended the inning with runners at first and third by getting Jason Kendall to fly out.

Rolen's two-out, two-run double in the first gave the Cards an early lead.

Brendan Ryan singled to lead off and Ankiel doubled. But after Lilly got Pujols and Encarnacion to pop out, Rolen delivered a two-run double into the left-field corner.

Ankiel showed off the great arm that once promised to make him a standout major league pitcher before control problems and injuries changed his plans.

Theriot drove a pitch to left that a leaping Ankiel couldn't catch. But when the ball bounded off the ivy-covered wall, Ankiel hustled to pick it up and then made a perfect one-hop peg to Rolen at third to cut down the speedy Theriot.

Notes: Tony La Russa managed his 4,408th game, tying him with Bucky Harris for third place on the all-time games managed list. ... Hitless in his previous 10 at-bats entering the game, Rolen finished 3-for-4.