ST. LOUIS -- The last time the Cardinals banged out as many hits in a game as they did on Wednesday night, it took them 20 innings to do it. The last time they scored as many runs in a home game, old Busch Stadium was still standing.
St. Louis bombarded the Marlins at new Busch on Wednesday, pounding out 20 hits in a 13-6 win. Ten Cardinals either scored or drove in a run, and six Redbirds combined for eight doubles to equal a franchise single-game record.
And it all came after the Cards fell in an early hole. Jason Marquis (14-12) and his teammates trailed, 5-1, in the middle of the fourth before the offense unloaded on rookie right-hander Ricky Nolasco (11-9).
"After the first time through the order, we really started to get a good look at what he was trying to do," said outfielder Preston Wilson, who went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. "And we didn't miss the mistakes that he threw for a few innings there."
Scott Rolen dropped three doubles and scored three times. Albert Pujols hit his 39th homer to move to within one long ball of his fourth straight season with 40 or more. Juan Encarnacion collected three hits. Even Marquis picked up a pair of singles and an RBI, and rookie reliever Adam Wainwright doubled and scored.
The win, combined with Cincinnati's loss, gave the Cardinals a 4 1/2-game lead on the second-place Reds, their largest cushion in more than two months. The gap is six games in the loss column. It was only the third time all season that St. Louis won a game in which it trailed by four or more runs.
"It didn't look good to start, but we started swinging the bats better and putting hits together," said Rolen. "That's what we hadn't been doing, is stringing hits together. Twenty is pretty good, I guess."
Playing without two of their key up-the-middle players, leadoff man David Eckstein and slugging center fielder Jim Edmonds, the Cards nonetheless put up a relentless attack against Nolasco and three relievers. St. Louis scored in five consecutive innings, batted around twice and scored more than one run in three different frames.
It had been nine years since a Cardinals team picked up 20 hits in a nine-inning game. The last time the Cards had 20 knocks in any game was May 27, 2003, when they had a hit per inning in an interminable win over the Marlins in Miami. It could have been even more overwhelming -- Pujols, Encarnacion and Yadier Molina all hit balls that carried to the wall, falling a few feet short of being home runs.
"What I saw was, I saw everybody on our team taking tough at-bats, whether it was the top or the middle or the bottom [of the order]," said manager Tony La Russa. "That's how you're supposed to play, that's how we usually play and that's how we have a chance."
Holding a 2-1 lead in the fourth, Florida appeared to put a stranglehold on the game. Wes Helms singled in a run and Mike Jacobs drove in two more with another single, making it a four-run Florida advantage. However, in a fashion that has been unusual this year, the Redbirds came right back.
Rolen started the onslaught with a double, and after Encarnacion singled, Wilson doubled in two runs to make it 5-3. Molina singled to put men on the corners, and Marquis poked a single the opposite way for the fourth Cardinals run. The tying run came home when Aaron Miles reached on Hanley Ramirez's error.
Marquis pitched his best frame in the next half-inning, getting a 1-2-3 against the bottom of the Marlins lineup. Pujols went deep to open the bottom of the fifth, and the Cards led the rest of the way. Four straight RBI base hits in the seventh put the game out of reach.
"That's how you play winning baseball," Rolen said. "If you're down 5-1, you've got to score six. You have to leave them at five and let the offense know this is where it's going to be. When you jump on a team early, when you're winning baseball games, you can never let them back in the game. So that's what we have to get on a roll with right now."
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