St. Louis ? Scott Rolen, the highest-paid St. Louis Cardinal in franchise history, looks the part right now.

Rolen drove in four runs, and Albert Pujols snapped a seventh-inning tie with a run-scoring infield hit in a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs Sunday.

Rolen is 17-for-41 during a 12-game hitting streak (.415) with four homers and 11 RBIs and is batting .294 overall, a 51-point jump.

“It’s just the averages,” manager Tony La Russa said of Rolen, who signed an eight-year, $90 million contract last year. “At the end of the season, he’s going to have another big year. He’s just too talented.”

The Cardinals have won only four of their last 12. But they maintained their mastery over the Cubs, who are 4-22 at Busch Stadium the last four seasons and haven’t won consecutive games there since June 20-21, 2001.

Chicago has won seven of 10, but has dropped two of the first three games in the four-game series. The Cubs played the seventh game of a 14-game trip, the longest for the team since 1983.

“Perhaps we were dragging today, but we’ll feel a lot better tomorrow,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We’re 5-2 halfway through the road trip, and I’ll take 5-2 for the next half.”

Fernando Vina drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the seventh against Juan Cruz (1-2) and advanced to third on a sacrifice and groundout. With two outs, Pujols hit a slow roller to the third base side for an infield hit. Reliever Antonio Alfonseca’s late throw to first was wild, allowing Pujols to go to third.

Rolen followed with a two-run homer off Alfonseca for a three-run cushion. He said he laid off two sinkers before jumping on a fastball.

“Your eyes don’t light up when a guy is throwing 95 mph; it looks kind of like an aspirin coming up there,” Rolen said. “I was looking for something up a little bit and got a ball up over the plate.”

Dustin Hermanson (1-1) worked out of a seventh-inning jam, allowing one run after entering the game with the bases loaded and nobody out. Cal Eldred got two outs for his third career save — all in the last four days.

St. Louis' Fernando Vina (4) avoids the slide of the Cubs' Hee Seop Choi after forcing Choi at second and throwing to first to double-up Ramone Martinez. The Cardinals won, 6-3, Sunday in St. Louis.

The Cardinals signed Eldred in the offseason thinking he’d have a shot at making the rotation.

“I think he’s challenged by it and he’s the kind of guy that loves the challenge,” La Russa said. “That was impressive today.”

Cardinals starter Jason Simontacchi lasted six innings, giving up three runs and four hits. He was criticized for pitching “backwards” by La Russa in his last start, in which he allowed seven runs in 12/3 innings, and was more conscious of going after the hitters this time around although he walked four.

Back-to-back walks to Troy O’Leary and Hee Seop Choi chased Simontacchi and helped the Cubs tie it in the seventh. Corey Patterson doubled to open the seventh and scored on a single by Moises Alou, and the tying run scored on a double-play ball by Ramon Martinez.

“I left us in a bad place,” Simontacchi said. “Hermy came in and shut the door.”

Cubs starter Shawn Estes was lifted by Baker after throwing 105 pitches in five innings.

Rockies 4, Expos 0

Denver — Shawn Chacon pitched six scoreless innings, Jay Payton homered, and Colorado beat Montreal in the 22nd shutout ever at Coors Field. Chacon (5-2), winless in his previous three outings, allowed four hits to outduel Tomo Ohka (3-5). It was the Rockies’ second shutout this season and 13th overall at Coors Field, which opened in 1995. Chacon was part of the other one this year as well, pitching seven scoreless innings in an 8-0 win April 20 over San Diego.

Mets 5, Giants 1

San Francisco — Tom Glavine took a shutout into the ninth inning, and Jason Phillips homered a day after being recalled from the minors to replace the injured Mike Piazza to lead New York. Glavine (5-3) followed up on a strong eight-inning performance by Steve Trachsel Saturday as the Mets beat the Giants for the second straight day after losing their first 12 regular season games at Pacific Bell Park.

Dodgers 2, Marlins 1

Los Angeles — Hideo Nomo pitched seven strong innings, and Alex Cora drove in two runs as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of Florida. Nomo (5-4) allowed one run and five hits to win for the fourth time in his last five decisions. The right-hander has won his last two starts against the Marlins after going 0-8 in his first nine starts against them.

D’backs 8, Pirates 6

Phoenix — Rookie Brandon Webb shut down Pittsburgh for 7 2/3 innings, and Arizona salvaged the final game of their three-game series. The 24-year-old right-hander, who relies mostly on a nasty sinker, scattered eight hits, struck out six and walked three. Webb (2-1) allowed three runs. Two of them came on pinch-hitter Reggie Sanders’ three-run homer off the first pitch from Eddie Oropesa, who relieved Webb with two outs in the eighth and Arizona leading 7-1.

Reds 6, Brewers 3 (10)

Milwaukee — Aaron Boone hit his second homer of the game, connecting in the 10th inning to help Cincinnati beat Milwaukee. Boone has homered three times in two days. The Reds stopped a three-game losing streak. Austin Kearns hit an RBI single with two outs in the 10th to put Cincinnati ahead. Boone followed with his 13th homer, a two-run shot to left field off Mike DeJean (1-3).

Braves 6, Padres 3

San Diego — Vinny Castilla homered for the third time in two games, and Russ Ortiz won his fifth straight decision to lead Atlanta to the four-game sweep. The Braves won for the 27th time in their last 32 games to improve to 31-13, the best record in the majors.

Phillies 3, Astros 1

Houston — Kevin Millwood threw a six-hitter for his second complete game of the season as Philadelphia beat Houston. Millwood (6-1) struck out four and walked one. He is 4-0 in his last six starts, including his first career no-hitter April 27 against San Francisco.