Cards return with a 'W', tie for wild card lead

ST. LOUIS -- Coming off his no-hitter, rookie Bud Smith allowed only three hits in seven innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Monday night.

The 21-year-old Smith held San Diego hitless Sept. 3. He skipped a start after throwing 134 pitches in that outing, then waited for baseball to resume play after Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

Albert Pujols drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the sixth inning as the Cardinals won for the seventh time in eight games and pulled into a tie with idle San Francisco for the wild card lead.

St. Louis is 4 1/2 games behind NL Central-leading Houston.

The game drew a crowd of 30,528 and had a patriotic flavor. It took about 10 minutes for a large contingent of police and firefighters to take their positions before the National Anthem, and fans stood and cheered the entire time.

They cheered again after a 21-fireworks salute before the game.

This time, Smith (4-2), who struck out five and walked one, was limited to 88 pitches.

All three hits off Smith were singles. The Brewers ended a 23-inning scoreless slump with an unearned run in the fifth after right fielder J.D. Drew misplayed Devon White's liner, the ball glancing off his wrist.

White went to second on the play and scored from third on Henry Blanco's one-out grounder to give the Brewers the lead.

Smith's hitless string ended at 11 innings when Jose Hernandez singled to start the third. The left-hander retired the side in order the first two innings, with three strikeouts and three popups.

Milwaukee starter Ruben Quevedo (4-3) lasted seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk.

Both of the Cardinals' runs came in the sixth. Placido Polanco and Drew hit consecutive one-out doubles for the first run.

Pujols' RBI was his 112th, tying the team rookie record set in 1953 by Ray Jablonski.

Drew scored standing up on the play, but barely beat White's relay from center field.

Steve Kline retired Geoff Jenkins on a liner to right with the bases loaded to end the eighth, and finished for his eighth save in nine chances.

NOTES: Milwaukee's Jeromy Burnitz had 10 chances, one short of the NL record for right fielders held by five players, including Casey Stengel. The major league record is 12 by Tony Armas of the Oakland Athletics on June 12, 1982. ... Smith has worked six or more innings in eight of his 12 career starts.