MLB: St. Louis 3, Los Angeles Dodgers 2

The Cardinals need one more victory to become the fourth team in the majors to reach the 70-win mark -- joining the Dodgers, the Los Angeles Angels and the New York Yankees.

St. Louis held a 2-0 lead into the seventh before the Dodgers tied it on solo homers by Andre Ethier and Casey Blake.

It was still 2-2 heading into the ninth, but Pujols drew a leadoff walk on a 3-2 pitch off Jonathan Broxton (7-1), who suffered his first setback of the season.

Pujols then stole second and moved on to third when catcher Russell Martin's throw got away. One pitch later, Matt Holliday lifted a sacrifice fly to center and Pujols dashed home with what turned out to be the winning run.

That gave the victory to Kyle McClellan (4-2), who worked the eighth. Dennys Reyes came on in the ninth and promptly hit Ethier with a pitch. Ryan Franklin relieved Reyes and retired Manny Ramirez on a ground out, moving Ethier to second.

Blake, however, popped out to shortstop and James Loney flew out to left on a 3-2 pitch to end the game and give Franklin his 31st save.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.