Pujols' power propels Cards

Albert Pujols hit his first 2 homers of the year, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the host Houston Astros 2-1 to take their third straight series.

Pujols also had an RBI-single, and Rick Ankiel added 2 RBI.

Pujols ended the longest home run drought to start the year in his career, hitting 2 in his ninth game.

St. Louis opened the season with series wins over Colorado and Washington before taking this series. They won three consecutive series' just once last season.

D'Backs 4, Dodgers 3: Eric Byrnes hit a go-ahead, 2-run single in the seventh inning off Hiroki Kuroda, and Arizona stretched its winning streak to six with a victory over visiting Los Angeles.

Micah Owings (2-0) allowed 3 runs and 7 hits in 7 innings as the Diamondbacks finished a three-game sweep of their NL West rival.

Mets 8, Phillies 2: Mike Pelfrey gave New York's injury-riddled pitching staff an encouraging boost, and visiting Philadelphia played a painfully sloppy game without their MVP shortstop Jimmy Rollins in New York's victory.

The Mets ended a nine-game losing streak to Philadelphia, taking advantage of 4 errors that led to 6 unearned runs.

Angel Pagan hit a 2-run double for the Mets.

Reds 12, Brewers 4: Adam Dunn and Corey Patterson each hit 2-run homers, Brandon Phillips scored twice off a pair of heady baserunning plays and visiting Cincinnati scored 10 straight runs en route to beating Milwaukee.

Phillips helped put the Reds on top for good in the sixth after the normally sure-handed second baseman allowed 2 unearned runs that cost Cincinnati the lead in the fifth when he let a grounder go through his legs.

Rockies 12, Braves 6: Yorvit Torrealba hit a 3-run home run to cap off a 6-run third inning as host Colorado won its third straight, beating Atlanta.

Matt Holliday had a triple and 2 RBI, and Ryan Spilborghs went 3-for-5 with a home run and 5 RBI in a spot start for the Rockies, who put up their highest run total of the young season.

Marlins 10, Nationals 4: Mike Jacobs is providing the power for first-place Florida.

Jacobs hit 2 homers, including a blast that capped a 7-run inning, to back Scott Olsen's solid pitching and help visiting Florida beat Washington.