Pittsburgh Pirates (5-16) At St. Louis Cardinals (12-7), 8:10 P.m.
Pujols bashed his major-league leading 12th home run of the season and finished with two RBI to lead the Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Bucs in Monday's series opener. The reigning National League MVP needs just one more long ball this month to tie the all-time record for homers in April, shared by Ken Griffey Jr. (1997) and Luis Gonzalez (2001).
So Taguchi and Hector Luna also had two RBI for St. Louis, which won for the fourth time in its last five games and dealt Pittsburgh its fifth straight setback.
Chris Carpenter (3-1) continued his impressive start to the season, giving up just two runs on eight hits over six innings for the win.
Jason Bay hit a solo home run for the Pirates while Humberto Cota went 2-for-4 and knocked in Pittsburgh's other run.
Oliver Perez (1-3) yielded all seven St. Louis runs, only five of which were earned, on 10 hits and two walks through five innings.
The Cardinals hope to continue their winning ways behind Jeff Suppan, who will try to rebound from a horrid outing against the Pirates last Tuesday. Suppan was battered for eight runs and eight hits and lasted just two innings in Pittsburgh's 12-4 win.
Suppan, who pitched for the Bucs in 2003, had been 5-0 with a 3.02 earned run average in six starts against his former club since joining the Cardinals the following season. For his career Suppan is 6-2 with a 3.94 ERA in 12 starts versus Pittsburgh.
For the Pirates, Victor Santos looks to snap a personal two-game losing streak when he takes the mound on Tuesday. The righthander pitched very well against the Cardinals last Wednesday but came up on the short end of a 4-0 decision. Santos allowed just two runs -- both on solo homers by David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds -- in his six-inning stint. The two home runs were the only hits he gave up.
Santos, who has lost both his starts at PNC Park this season, is 0-2 with a 3.68 ERA in six lifetime appearances (four starts) against St. Louis.
The Cardinals have taken three of four meetings between the clubs so far this year after going 12-4 against the Pirates in the 2005 season series.
Pirates made $21.9M in 2005
The Pittsburgh Pirates were the eighth-most profitable team in the major leagues in 2005, according to a study released Friday by Forbes Magazine.
The Pirates, with an estimated $21.9 million in operating income in 2005, ranked ahead of powerhouses like the New York Yankees, who lost $50 million, and the Boston Red Sox, who lost $18.5 million in 2005, according to the magazine.
Major League Baseball discounted the study.
"Forbes has never had access to financial information from major league baseball or the individual clubs," Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president of labor relations, said in a statement. "The estimates published in the current issue of the magazine materially misstate the financial performance of the industry as a whole and of the individual clubs."
The Cleveland Indians led the way with $34.6 million in operating income.
In terms of team value, the Yankees ranked first with an estimated team value of $1.02 billion. The Boston Red Sox, with a team value of $617 million, were second on that list.
With an estimated value of $250 million, the Pirates ranked 24th out of 30 major league teams. Only the Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, Florida Marlins, Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays had a lower team value, according to the finance magazine's study.
The Pirates ranked a notch lower in revenue for 2005. The team's estimated revenue of $125 million in 2005 ranked the Pirates 25th out of 30 Major League teams.
Pirates prospect Eldred out indefinitely
A team spokesman said Eldred will undergo surgery on Tuesday in Pittsburgh for a fracture and dislocation of the thumb, and that the Pirates would have a better idea of a timetable for Eldred's return after the operation.
Eldred, 25, was injured when he collided with a baserunner while reaching for a throw on Sunday at Louisville.
Eldred, a sixth-round draft pick in 2002, hit 10 homers in 190 at-bats last season with the Pirates and totalled 40 homers at the double-A, triple-A and major-league levels. He began the season in the minors to get more playing time after the Pirates signed Sean Casey to a free-agent deal and was batting .226 with three homers, seven doubles and 10 RBIs in 10 games and Indianapolis.