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Pujols homers in return to St. Louis as Dodgers top Cards 7-2

It was the first four-homer game at Busch this season, by either the Cardinals or their opponent.

ST. LOUIS — The Dodgers proved that it is possible to hit home runs at Busch Stadium.

Including a home run in his first at-bat by former Cardinal Albert Pujols, the Dodgers hit four home runs Tuesday night to power their way to the win that handed the Cardinals their fourth consecutive loss. The other homers came from Justin Turner, who hit two, and Will Smith.

It was the first four-homer game at Busch this season, by either the Cardinals or their opponent.

It was the true definition of a total team win as Los Angeles used nine pitchers and emptied the bench with all of their position players appearing in the game, adding up to a total of 21 players.

The loss left the Cardinals 4 games behind the Padres in the race for the second wild-card, while they also lost a game to the Reds in the standings.

Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:

At the plate: Nolan Arenado, back in the lineup after getting Monday off, drove in both of the Cardinals’ runs. His sacrifice fly in the first brought in Dylan Carlson, who beat out an infield single and went to third on a ground-rule double by Tyler O’Neill. Arenado’s single in the third drove in O’Neill following his second double … O’Neill later added a single and drew a walk, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances … O’Neill had three of the team’s eight hits as the Cardinals had just one hit, a single by pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa with two outs in the ninth, after the fifth inning … Arenado’s single in the third was their only hit in 10 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, leaving them just 1-of-15 in those situations in the first two games of the series.

On the mound: Starter J.A. Happ allowed four runs over five innings, coming out of the game with the Cardinals losing 4-2. He gave up the homer to Pujols in the first, the 679th of Pujols’ career, and the first of Turner’s two blasts, in the fifth … Smith’s homer came off Alex Reyes, brought in to pitch the sixth inning, and Turner capped the scoring with his second homer, a two-run shot, off Kwang Hyun Kim in the ninth.

Key stat: At 41, Pujols became the oldest player to homer against the Cardinals since 42-year-old Matt Stairs, then of the Padres, on Sept. 18, 2010.

Worth noting: In a video posted on his Big League Impact charity’s website, Adam Wainwright announced that he does plan to play next season … Former Cardinals Ted Simmons and Larry Walker will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.H., in a ceremony on Wednesday, delayed from last year because of the pandemic … Paul Goldschmidt got his first day off since May 2 on Wednesday night. He has played in 134 of the team’s 137 games this season … Dakota Hudson made his third start on his minor-league rehab assignment on Tuesday night, his second for Double-A Springfield. He worked four innings, allowing two unearned runs, while throwing 46 pitches. He is expected to make two more appearances in the minors before possibly rejoining the Cardinals near the end of the regular season … Both of the Cardinals’ top two prospects, Nolan Gorman and Jordan Walker, each hit a three-run homer on Wednesday night. Gorman now has 22 homers, split between Double-A and Triple-A.

Looking ahead: Wainwright will get the start on Wednesday night in the third game of the four-game series, once again being asked to try to snap a Cardinals’ losing streak.

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