ST. LOUIS (AP) — Albert Pujols collected home run No. 695 in the eighth inning and Miles Mikolas tossed eight shutout innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.
Pujols drilled the two-run pinch-hit shot off of reliever Brandon Hughes (2-2).
A future Hall of Famer, Pujols trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696) on the all-time list.
Puols has seven pinch-hit homers in his career, and two this season. He has homered against 451 different pitcher, an all-time record.
St. Louis has won four in a row, 18 of their last 20 home games and is a season-best 24 games over .500 at 79-55. It was the Cardinals' eighth series sweep of the season.
Chicago has lost seven of eight.
Mikolas (11-10) gave up two hits. He struck out three and walked one. Ryan Helsley picked his 13th save in 17 chances.
Chicago starter Marcus Stroman allowed four hits in seven shutout innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter in a 98-pitch stint.
The start of the game was delayed 1 hour and 28 minutes by rain.
HOMETOWN HERO
Boston Celtics standout Jayson Tatum, a St. Louis native, threw out the first pitch. Tatum played high school basketball at Chaminade College Prep, located 14 miles from Busch Stadium.
QUICK GETAWAY
The Cardinals have scored 91 runs in the first inning, second to the Los Angeles Dodgers with 95.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cubs: C Willson Contreras missed the game with a sore left foot. He suffered the injury Tuesday against Toronto.
Cardinals: LHP Steven Matz will make a rehab start on Tuesday at Double-A Springfield. He has been out since Aug. 8 with a left knee sprain.
UP NEXT
Cubs: LHP Wade Miley (1-0, 2.84 ERA) will start on Tuesday as the Cubs begin a six-game homestand by hosting Cincinnati. Miley has been out since June 11 with a left shoulder strain. RHP Justin Dunn (1-2, 4.63) will start for the Reds.
Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-0, 5.63) will face Washington RHP Anibal Sanchez (1-5, 5.05) in the first of a four-game series on Monday afternoon in St. Louis. Flaherty has been out since June 27 with a right shoulder strain. He made five rehab starts in the minors.
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