St. Louis ? The pop was back in Mark Bellhorn’s bat when it counted most for the Chicago Cubs.

Bellhorn hit his second homer of the season Saturday, connecting off Steve Kline leading off the ninth as the Cubs finished a big day from starter Mark Prior with a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“He was trying to throw me a strike because he didn’t want to walk the leadoff hitter,” said Bellhorn, mired in a 10-for-54 slump. “I hope I can feed off this tomorrow and maybe even for a couple of weeks and the rest of the year.

“I’ve been struggling and once I come out of this I’ll be fine.”

The NL Central leaders have won six of seven. They also won for only the second time in 11 games the last two seasons at Busch Stadium, and for only the fourth time in 25 games there since 2000.

“I knew it was a bad number,” manager Dusty Baker said. “It’s a tough place to play and a tough place to win.”

Bellhorn, pinch hitting for reliever Mike Remlinger, hit a 3-2 pitch from Kline (1-4) over the left-field wall for his second homer of the season and second career pinch homer. It was the first pinch homer by the Cubs this season and Bellhorn’s first overall since April 15.

Bellhorn hit 27 homers last year, a franchise record for a switch hitter.

It was the latest shaky outing for Kline, who has a 4.67 ERA. Manager Tony La Russa has been trying to nurse Kline’s confidence after the reliever ripped his own performances a few weeks ago in a postgame meltdown.

Albert Pujols tied it with his 10th homer off Prior with one out in the eighth. All but one of Pujols’ homers have come against right-handers.

Mets 5, Giants 1

San Francisco — Cliff Floyd hit a two-run homer and Steve Trachsel became the first Mets pitcher to go more than seven innings this season as New York finally won at Pacific Bell Park. The Mets had lost their first 12 regular-season games at the new ballpark. They split a pair of playoffs games in 2000. New York placed All-Star catcher Mike Piazza on the disabled list before the game because of a severe groin strain that is expected to sideline him for a significant amount of time.

Phillies 9, Astros 4

Houston — Placido Polanco homered, doubled, singled and scored three runs to lead Philadelphia past Houston. Brandon Duckworth (3-1) recorded the victory in his first game since being recalled from Triple-A Scranton. Duckworth, who was demoted after consecutive bad outings raised his ERA to 6.46, allowed three runs and five hits in five innings. Jim Thome added a solo homer in the ninth for the Phillies, who hit into six double plays.

Expos 6, Rockies 4 (10)

Denver — Pinch-hitter Henry Mateo hit a two-run single in the 10th inning and Montreal overcame the early ejection of starter Zach Day to beat Colorado. Day was ejected in the third inning after umpires determined he had a foreign substance on his fingers.

Brewers 8, Reds 6

Milwaukee — Eddie Perez hit a three-run homer off Scott Williamson in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving Milwaukee a victory over Cincinnati. Williamson (3-2), who hadn’t pitched in six days, walked Richie Sexson and John Vander Wal before Perez hit the first pitch for his fifth homer.

Dodgers 4, Marlins 1

Los Angeles — Paul Lo Duca went 4-for-4 with a tiebreaking solo homer to back Odalis Perez as Los Angeles beat Florida. Perez (2-3) allowed three hits in eight innings, including a first-inning homer by Luis Castillo, and won consecutive starts for the first time this year. He struck out eight, walked two and did not allow a hit after Alex Gonzalez doubled with one out in the second.

Pirates 8, D’backs 5

Phoenix — Kevin Young hit a three-run homer and Pittsburgh won a series at Arizona for the first time since 1998. Brian Giles singled in a pair of runs as the Pirates won their second in a row at Bank One Ballpark, by identical scores. They were 3-12 at Arizona in the previous four seasons. The loss means Arizona will not win its season series against Pittsburgh for the first time since the Diamondbacks started play in 1998. The Pirates lead the series 3-2.

Braves 12, Padres 2

San Diego — Gary Sheffield hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, and Vinny Castilla homered twice to lead Atlanta past San Diego, the Braves’ 26th victory in their last 31 games.