NewsRoyals done in by Pujols' huge game
Meche can't escape fourth; DeJesus, Guillen go deep
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com
06/21/09 7:00 PM ET
KANSAS CITY -- Lots of fun for Albert Pujols. Lots of fun for Tony La Russa. Lots of fun for the St. Louis Cardinals. Not much fun for the Kansas City Royals as the Interleague I-70 Series ground to a halt on Sunday.Pujols pounded two home runs -- including a grand slam -- La Russa got his 2,500th managerial victory and the Cardinals swept the three-game series with a 12-5 victory in front of 33,805 at sun-splashed Kauffman Stadium.
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In the three games, Pujols went 6-for-12, hit three homers and drove in 10 runs.
"He's the best hitter in the game," said Royals starter Gil Meche.
Meche can testify from personal experience. He delivered the pitch that Pujols propelled over the left-field bullpen for the slam that broke open the game, giving the Cardinals an 8-4 lead.
The 423-foot smash was the first home run to hit the new Royals Hall of Fame building, hitting the lower bank of windows. Pujols tied the Cardinals' record for career slams, nine, established by the legendary Stan Musial.
The Cardinals had tied the score, 4-4, on Skip Schumaker's single, and the bases were loaded with one out. The count was full when Pujols fouled off what Meche said was a 95-mph fastball high and away.
"You need to be patient," Pujols said. "[Meche is] a competitive guy. He's gonna go out there and go after you. And hopefully, he makes a mistake like he did, and you take advantage."
Meche came back with a low 85-mph changeup but not quite low enough and, boom, goodbye.
"With the speed differential, for a guy to be on a pitch like that doesn't happen often. But he's one of those elite guys," Meche said.
Before the inning ended, Meche was gone, the Cardinals sent 13 batters to the plate, scored eight runs and led, 11-4.
Pujols also whacked a solo homer in the fifth against reliever Jamey Wright. It was Pujols' 26th this season and his 12th in 27 games at Kauffman Stadium. He was 4-for-5 for the day with six RBIs in the city where he attended high school and college. His career average against the Royals is .394 (65-for-165).
"Is it special? Yeah, because I got family and friends here," Pujols said. "But it's nothing different than every day of my routine."
This one started with all the earmarks of a barn-burner. After the Cardinals went ahead, 2-0, in the first inning, the Royals stormed back against Adam Wainwright in their half. They went up, 3-2, as Jose Guillen lined a two-run single and then belly-flopped home on Mark Teahen's hit.
"Jose's at-bat was big, battling with two strikes and knocking two guys in," Teahen said. "I just swung at the first pitch and lucked out or whatever but it was good to get on the board early."
In the second inning, Khalil Greene got the Cardinals a 3-3 tie with his third homer in the three games. Never mind, David DeJesus countered with a homer of his own, and the Royals were ahead again, 4-3.
But it was the Royals' barn that was left in the smoldering ashes in the Cardinals' big fourth inning. In the aftermath, Guillen got his third RBI of the game in the sixth with a solo home run off Wainwright. It was Guillen's eighth this season.
But all the celebrating was done by the Cardinals, who won five of six games against their Missouri rivals this season.
La Russa's 2,500th victory against 2,177 losses came 30 years after he managed his first win on Aug. 3, 1979, a game his Chicago White Sox won, 8-5, at Toronto. Only Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) have more wins.
"I'm not lumped in with them. I'm not even close to them," La Russa said. "I don't think about it that way. I think about -- and I mean this sincerely -- I think about the good fortune I've had."
The Royals were left to ponder a string of five straight defeats in which they've been outscored 53-21. Their opponents reached double digits in four of those games and three of them, oddly enough, were 12-5 losses.
"It's been all-around. We haven't really been performing that well at the plate, in the field or on the mound," Teahen said. "You've got do all those well to win games, and we're not doing any of them all that well right now."
Meche, who gave up a career-high nine earned runs, was obviously feeling the burden of defeat.
"Pretty much everything that could've happened wrong today did," Meche said. "And it's been that way for us the last four or five games. It's definitely tough coming into the clubhouse every day when you play like that. It's just a matter of turning it around and playing better."
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
