Cardinals’ homers put Cubs away

CHICAGO — Albert Pujols hit his 31st home run and Yadier Molina homered twice as the St. Louis cardinals beat the Cubs 6-2 on Sunday night.

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

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.

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

Rodrigo Lopez (4-4) took the loss, allowing four homers and five runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Aramis Ramirez had two hits and drove in both of Chicago’s runs.

The win halted the Cardinals’ recent backslide and they finished their road trip 2-4. St. Louis remained 8½ games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central.

St. Louis broke on top in the second when Jay and Molina homered into the wind on consecutive pitches to almost the exact 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. It was Molina’s second career multi-homer game and his first since Aug. 16, 2007, at Milwaukee.

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.

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.

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

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

Ramirez stayed hot with a double and run-scoring single. He’s hitting .487 (19 for 39) with four homers and 12 RBI in his last nine games.

Ramirez added a sacrifice fly in the fifth, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2, but it wasn’t enough on a night when Lopez couldn’t keep the ball in the park.