Pujols homers and Cardinals power past Cubs 6-2

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols (5) celebrates with catcher Yadier Molina (4) after beating the Chicago Cubs in a baseball game, Friday, July 29, 2011 in St. Louis.
St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols (5) celebrates with catcher Yadier Molina (4) after beating the Chicago Cubs in a baseball game, Friday, July 29, 2011 in St. Louis.

CHICAGO (AP) - Albert Pujols homering against the Chicago Cubs is no surprise. Yadier Molina doing it this year isn't either.

Pujols hit his 31st home run and Molina connected twice Sunday night as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cubs 6-2.

Pujols had four hits and took over the National League lead in homers. Matt Holliday added three hits and John Jay homered, doubled and scored twice for St. Louis.

"A big win, feels good," Pujols said. "I don't know what it is, over the last two or three road trips, we haven't started our road trips the way we wanted to. But it feels good to get a win tonight."

The win halted the Cardinals' recent slide and they finished their road trip 2-4. St. Louis remained 81⁄2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central.

"We're not worried about what Milwaukee is doing," Pujols said. "They're going to take care of their business and we're going to take care of ours."

It was Molina's second career multihomer game and his first since Aug. 16, 2007, at Milwaukee.

"It's fun, but for me it's about the win," Molina said. "I try to contribute in the game and try to do the right thing to win the game. We did it tonight."

Molina has already surpassed his previous high with 11 homers on the season and his slugging percentage of .457 is nearly 80 points above his lifetime mark, a career season at the plate for the catcher who has won the NL's last three Gold Gloves.

"Yadier has been the same hitter since he came up in 2004," Pujols said. "When a guy doesn't strike out and puts the ball in play a lot like he does, there's a pretty good chance that the guy is going to be a pretty good hitter."

Pujols' solo shot in the fifth was his 53rd career homer against the Cubs, the most he's hit against any team. Pujols also singled three times for his fourth four-hit game of the season.

Jake Westbrook (10-7) held the Cubs to seven hits and two runs in seven innings, beating Chicago for the first time in three starts this season as the Cardinals salvaged the last game of a three-game series.

"I thought (Westbrook) came up big," La Russa said. "He knew what was at stake here. So he gave us a lift. He went out there and gave us exactly what we needed."

Jason Motte and Fernando Salas finished off the Cubs with two perfect innings.

Rodrigo Lopez (4-4) allowed four homers and five runs in 51⁄3 innings. He said only two of the four home runs came off mistakes.

"Two were bad pitches," Lopez said. "First one to Molina and the one to Pujols. The others I had my pitches where I wanted it. That was the game."

Pujols has homered three times this season off Lopez after entering the season 0-for-11 against the veteran righty.

"He's Pujols," Lopez said. "He's one of the best hitters in the game."

The Cardinals broke on top in the second when Jay and Molina homered into the wind on consecutive pitches to almost the same spot in left field.

Jay and Molina teamed up again in the sixth. Jay drew a one-out walk and Molina homered to opposite field.

The four homers matched a season high for St. Louis, which also hit a quartet April 15.

While he didn't get in on the longball act, Holliday did single his last three times up, snapping an 0-for-13 skid.

Notes: Cardinals SS Rafael Furcal was held out of the lineup for the second straight day after jamming his right thumb during batting practice Saturday. 2B Ryan Theriot was left out of Sunday's starting lineup because of hamstring tightness. Both players are listed as day-to-day. ... St. Louis returns home today for the first of three games against the Dodgers. The Cards will send Chris Carpenter to the mound against L.A.'s Nathan Eovaldi. Carpenter has won all six of his career decisions against the Dodgers.