Pujols homer leads Cardinals past Blue Jays

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays have been one of the hottest teams in baseball but they struggled against the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

Albert Pujols had a three-run homer and made Cardinals history as St. Louis beat the Blue Jays 6-1 to snap Toronto's seven-game win streak. The 42-year-old first baseman singled in the second inning, doubled in the fourth, and homered in the fifth to surpass Rogers Hornsby for fourth on the Cardinals' all-time hits list. Pujols now has 2,112 hits for St. Louis.

Pujols' offence backed up 40-year-old starting pitcher Adam Wainwright (7-8), who struck out eight and allowed five hits over seven innings of one-run ball. Pujols and Wainwright won the World Series together in 2006 and were still teammates in 2011 when the Cardinals repeated as champions, although Wainwright was injured for the entirety of that season.

"We were waiting for Ozzie Smith to backflip out in the ninth at short," said Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider, referring to the Cards' long-time Hall of Fame shortstop who retired in 1996.

"You've got to tip your hat, man. They've been doing it for a long time. Obviously both of them had great nights."

Nolan Gorman added a solo home run for the Cardinals (52-47), while relievers Giovanny Gallegos and Ryan Helsley combined for two scoreless innings

Bo Bichette's RBI single was all the offence Toronto (54-44) would muster. The lone run was in stark contrast to the 68 the Blue Jays scored over their seven-game streak that began on July 15.

Toronto is still 8-2 in its last 10 games.

Kevin Gausman (7-8) struck out six but gave up eight hits and a walk for five runs over 4 2/3 innings. Trevor Richards, Jeremy Beasley, Anthony Banda, and David Phelps came on in