Reds sweep Cards to tie up NL Central

ST. LOUIS — The Cincinnati Reds kicked the St. Louis Cardinals when they were down, sweeping a team missing Albert Pujols.

Rich Aurilia matched career highs with four hits and five RBIs Wednesday night, leading the Reds to a 7-4 victory that pulled them into a tie for first place with the Cardinals in the NL Central.

“Honestly, we need to pounce on them no matter who they’ve got out there, whether they had him or brought Musial back or whoever,” said Aurilia, whose three-run home run off Tyler Johnson in the sixth made it 7-0. “Does it hurt their team having him out? Of course it does, but we played well and we beat some pretty good pitching.”

Scott Hatteberg had two hits, two walks and two RBIs to help the Reds stretch their winning streak to a season-best seven games. They completed a three-game sweep with Ken Griffey Jr. (left quad) and Edwin Encarnacion (left ankle) out with minor injuries. They also swept a three-game series in Houston during a 7-2 trip.

“I think a lot of people will probably pick up the paper tomorrow and read it and go ‘Who the hell is that? What’s going on?’” Aurilia said. “We’ve played really well the last week.”

The Cardinals were impressed.

“They’ve always had hitters, all they needed is pitching,” St. Louis’ John Rodriguez said. “And now they’ve got it.”

Pujols was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Monday with a strained muscle on his right side. There is still definite return date for last year’s NL MVP who was leading the major leagues in home runs (25) and RBIs (65) this season.

Aaron Harang (7-4) became the first visiting pitcher to win twice at new Busch Stadium, dominating for five innings before tiring. Harang threw seven shutout innings in a 1-0 victory on April 14, and he had thrown 12 consecutive scoreless innings in St. Louis before giving up three runs in his final inning.

In 5 2/3 innings, Harang allowed eight hits with three strikeouts and a walk to win his second straight start.

“It still looked like he made some good pitches, but they were on him a little bit,” Reds manager Jerry Narron said. “I just wanted to go with a fresh arm.”

The Cardinals wrapped up a 3-6 homestand and are 1-3 since Pujols went on the 15-day disabled list on Sunday with a strained right side muscle. They snapped a 15-inning scoreless slump, their longest since June 2004, in the sixth on Scott Rolen’s two-run double and Jim Edmonds’ RBI single.

“We didn’t play very well, and we ran into a hot team,” Edmonds said. “Everything they hit was hard. They could do no wrong.”

Edmonds added his sixth home run, and first since May 12, in the eighth off David Weathers.

Singles by David Eckstein and Rolen in the first gave the Cardinals, who were alone in first place for 23 games, their first multihit inning in 23 innings.

Sidney Ponson (4-1) lost for the first time in nine starts with the Cardinals, who signed him as a free agent in the offseason. In 5 1/3 innings he gave up five runs and eight hits.

Todd Coffey got the last three outs for his fourth save in five chances. He has retired all six hitters his last two outings after his blown save on Sunday.

Izzy doesn’t: The Cardinals put struggling closer Jason Isringhausen, who has blown two of his last three save opportunities, on the do-not-pitch list for the second straight day on Wednesday.

Isringhausen, manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan all characterized the days off as a mental break. Isringhausen was tied for the NL lead with 18 saves but his four blown saves equaled last season’s total.

“I’ve never done this before in my career, walk so many people,” Isringhausen said. “It’s just frustrating, and it’s frustrating for everybody that’s watching.”

Isringhausen’s problems are mostly self-induced. Duncan said Isringhausen tries to throw a perfect strike one, and then when he misses he’s battling from behind.

Duncan said a pitcher like Isringhausen, who has 158 saves with the Cardinals and needs only two more to tie Lee Smith for the franchise record, doesn’t need to throw the perfect pitch.

“You don’t have to hit the corners if you control the count,” Duncan said. “Once you have control of the count, the hitters start swinging.”