Wellemeyer's Arm, Pujols Pinch-Hit HR Sparks 4-1 Cardinals' Victory

Todd Wellemeyer looked brilliant, allowing only five hits over six innings. In the process, Wellemeyer's ERA has now dropped to 2.92 after 12 starts. The Cardinals' player and coaches were not sure how Todd would react to an extra day of rest, but it didn't seem to throw him off in the slightest.

Wellemeyer found himself in a jam early in the game, partially due to some poor defensive plays, but recovered to not allow an earned run. The Cardinals couldn't be happier with this performance from Todd.

The biggest news of the day, however, was that Albert Pujols was back, only as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. But in that one at-bat, Pujols went yard off of Nationals reliever Joel Hanrahan, for his 15th blast of the season.

While it is doubtful that manager Tony LaRussa will use Pujols in tonight's game, the second-half of the doubleheader, he does need to figure out what he will do for pitching. Mike Parisi, making just his second major league start, will get the ball, and presumably throw four to five innings at most.

That would be alright on most days, but LaRussa used five pitchers in relief of Wellemeyer to pitch the last three innings of the 4-1 Cardinal victory. That means one thing: reliever Kyle McClellan will get significant innings if Parisi runs into any troubles tonight.

Recent callup, Mark Worrell, could also be called on to pitch a couple of innings if need be.

Although Pujols' home run will steal the headlines, third baseman Troy Glaus got the scoring going with a 2-run job in the fourth inning. Glaus has finally found his power stroke, hitting three home runs in the past five games for the Redbirds.

In other news, the Cardinals are down just 2.5 games in the division now, and rookie Joe Mather smashed an RBI double in the eighth inning, which Cardinals fans were certainly glad to see.

Hopefully the Cardinals can get another win tonight and move just two back of the Cubs.