Albert Pujols homers twice to close in on Alex Rodriguez on career HR list, help St. Louis Cardinals beat Milwaukee Brewers

ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols homered twice and Miles Mikolas tossed eight effective innings, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Sunday.

Dylan Carlson and Tyler O'Neill also connected for St. Louis, which pushed its National League Central lead over second-place Milwaukee to 1½ games.

Carlson broke a 2-all tie with his eighth homer of the season, a drive to left against Taylor Rogers (1-6) in the eighth.

Hunter Renfroe and Rowdy Tellez homered for Milwaukee, which beat St. Louis 3-2 in 10 innings on Saturday night.

Pujols hit a solo shot in the second and a three-run drive in the eighth to give him 689 career homers. It was his 63rd career multihomer game, tying him with Willie Mays for fifth all time.

The 42-year-old Pujols ranks fourth on the career homer list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696).

«I'm the grandpa in this clubhouse,» Pujols said. «I'm having a great time.»

Pujols has 10 homers and 30 RBIs in what he has said will be his last season.

«I've been putting some good swings all year long,» Pujols said. «Sometimes, you're going to get breaks. Sometimes you are not.»

Pujols has reached 10 homers for the 21st time in his career.

«To see him do these incredible things and you hear the crowd react, he's just giving the people what they want,» Mikolas said. «It doesn't get any better than that.»

Pujols not only did the job on the field, but he also handed out some valuable advice during the hitters' meeting before the game.

«He's got a lot of experience, he's faced a lot of guys in this league,» Carlson said.

Pujols, a regular starter against left-handers, even impressed the opposition.

«He got his pitches and he did damage,» Milwaukee