Ludwick homers again, Cards beat Dodgers
Ryan Ludwick said he simply followed Albert Pujols’ lead.
Ludwick tied a franchise record with a homer in his fifth straight game, only four pitches after Pujols’ grand slam, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-6 on Wednesday.
“The best part about it is we’re winning,” Ludwick said. “I felt like I had the best seat in the house, following Albert. The guy can flat-out hit.”
Pujols’ sixth career grand slam and Ludwick’s drive during a five-run fourth chased Derek Lowe, who gave up eight runs and 13 hits in only 3 1-3 innings. Ludwick was 3-for-5 with three RBIs and Pujols finished 4-for4 with a walk, while insisting being on the same field as Manny Ramirez served as motivation.
“You can have nine Manny Ramirezes out there and I’m still going to go and play my game,” Pujols said. “I don’t have to impress Manny Ramirez or 45,000 people. y job is to play hard and help my team to win.”
Ramirez hit his 513th homer run in the second inning to break a tie with Ernie Banks and Eddie Mathews for 20th place on the career list. Ramirez added an RBI single in the third to give the Dodgers an early 3-1 lead, and is batting .600 (12-for-20) with three homers and six RBIs in five games since joining the Dodgers.