• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Mulder sharp as Cardinals take two game lead on Padres

Posted on: Thursday, 6 October 2005, 19:06 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mark Mulder pitched 6 2/3 strong innings and Reggie Sanders and David Eckstein both drove in a pair of runs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres 6-2 in National League Division Series play Thursday in St. Louis.

The Cardinals needed just six hits to score their runs as they take a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and they look to repeat as NL champions.

Game three in the series is in San Diego Saturday.

Mulder scattered eight hits but allowed just one run, striking out two and walking one. Julian Tavares, Randy Flores and Jason Isringhausen completed the 10-hitter for the Cards.

As they did in game one of the series, the Cardinals broke in front quickly, scoring twice in the third and twice in the fourth to lead 4-0. The runs scored on two fielder's choices, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly as the Cards chipped away at starter Pedro Astacio.

COMEBACK HOPES

The Padres got one run back in the seventh but a two-run double by Reggie Sanders in the bottom of the seventh all-but ended any San Diego comeback hopes.

Albert Pujols had two of the Cards hits and added an RBI and a run scored, while Abraham Nunez scored a pair of runs for St. Louis.

Astacio was the loser, charged with four runs -- two earned -- on three hits with four strikeouts and three walks in four innings.

Xavier Nady drove in both runs for the Padres, while Joe Randa had three of the 10 Padre hits in the game.

Former Cardinal Woody Williams gets the start in game three Saturday night for San Diego, while Matt Morris pitches for St. Louis.

The Cardinals were the only major league team to win 100 games this season, while the Padres finished just 82-82.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category