PITTSBURGH(AP) -- Ryan Ludwick allowed Adam Wainwright to overcome
a rare subpar start and back into becoming the majors' first
17-game winner.

Ludwick homered twice and had his first career five-hit game,
and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 14-7 on
Friday night for their 10th win in 12 games.

Last-place Pittsburgh lost its eighth straight despite a six-run
fifth that briefly gave it the lead after trailing 5-0 - only to
watch Albert Pujols give St. Louis the lead again the following
half-inning with a three-run homer, his major league-leading
43rd.

"He had that one bad inning," Ludwick said of Wainwright. "He's
been so dominating as of late, to be able to come back and get
him out of it - being that he really hasn't done that at all of
late - it was nice. It was nice to be able to help him out, get
him off the hook and get this first win of the series."

Matt Holliday also homered and Mark DeRosa added three hits for
St. Louis, which has won six of seven and 17 of 21 to extend its
lead in the National League Central to 11 1/2 games over the
Chicago Cubs.

"(Wainwright) is having a great, great year, nobody's getting
anything off him and all of a sudden, there's the one big
inning," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He just looked
like he ran out of gas ... But I liked it because sometimes he
picks us up. It's a good team thing."

Ludwick and Holliday hit back-to-back solo home runs off of
Kevin Hart in the third extend the Cardinals' lead to 4-0, and
Ludwick also hit a three-run shot in the eighth for his eighth
career multihomer game, third this season.

NL Cy Young candidate Wainwright (17-7) cruised through the
first four innings, allowing only four baserunners and holding a
5-0 lead until, with one out in the fifth, seven of eight
Pirates batters reached to give them a 6-5 lead.

The six earned runs Wainwright allowed in that inning were as
many as he allowed in both of the entire months of July and
August - when he made six starts each month, going 4-1 each
time.

"I didn't execute my pitches that inning is really all it comes
down to," Wainwright said. "And the team is my saving grace.
Right now if it wasn't for my team scoring eight runs for me, I
would be hard to talk to."

Wainwright was in line to receive a loss for only the second
time in nine starts when left the game after five innings having
been charged with six runs on nine hits and two walks, striking
out five.

But Pujols' homer - a line drive that cleared the left-field
wall quickly - was only the beginning of a nine-run Cardinals'
outburst over the course of three innings to put away the game.

St. Louis has scored only four combined runs in Wainwright's
past three losses.

"I think it was about time we picked our pitchers up," Pujols
said. "Obviously, they've been pitching so great over the last
six weeks and we haven't scored enough runs. But today we came
back after he gave up six to help him out to get a win.
Obviously, he deserves it. He's been pitching so well, and we
haven't scored a lot of runs for him."

Hart (4-5) was charged with seven runs - five earned - on nine
hits and three walks with three strikeouts in 5 2-3 innings. He
fell to 1-4 with a 6.35 ERA in six starts with Pittsburgh since
being acquired in a trade from the Chicago Cubs on July 30.

"It's one of those things where when we score six in the bottom
of the inning, you've got to go out there and have a shutdown
inning," Hart said. "These guys picked me up tonight, and I
didn't do the same."

Ryan Doumit went 3 for 5, Lastings Milledge went 2 for 3 with a
walk and Andy LaRoche and Brandon Moss each had two RBIs for the
Pirates (53-80), who are two losses away from establishing the
record for consecutive losing seasons by a North American
professional sports team with their 17th.

"They didn't lay over and play dead; that's encouraging,"
Pirates manager John Russell said of his team. "But it's tough
to win games when you give up 14 runs."

Ludwick, who has 86 RBIs in only 115 games this season, had four
previous four-hit games but had two doubles and a single besides
his home runs.

"That's the kind of night you have in Little League; you don't
have those in the major leagues," La Russa said. "And they were
all clutch."

NOTES: Wainwright had made 26 consecutive starts in which he
lasted at least six innings. He hadn't allowed more than two
runs in any of his past 12 outings. ... The Cardinals have won
14 of Wainwright's past 18 starts, including the last six. ...
Despite the Pirates' losing streak, they had actually won seven
of their previous nine home games. ... Holliday's homer was his
11th in 38 games with St. Louis - as many as he hit with Oakland
before a July 24 trade. ... Ludwick now has 20 home runs.