St. Louis ? With one big swing, Albert Pujols reached another milestone and kept the St. Louis Cardinals’ faint playoff hopes alive.

Pujols homered in the 13th inning, his second game-winning shot of the year, for a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros Saturday. He has 114 career homers, tied with Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner (1946-48) for the most in a player’s first three seasons.

“You’re talking about records that were sitting there for a long time,” Pujols said. “It’s a blast. I didn’t try to hit the ball out of the park. I just tried to put a good swing on it, and look what happens.”

St. Louis has six games to go, including the series finale against Houston today.

“We know what the magic number is,” manager Tony La Russa said. “We take pride in being competitors.”

Astros manager Jimy Williams didn’t know what to say.

“I think you’re just going to have to write what you saw because it was really a heck of a game,” Williams told reporters. “You’re going to have to write this story on your own.”

Fernando Vina had three hits and a walk for the Cardinals, who snapped a five-game losing streak against the Astros. They had lost the previous four by a combined score of 28-7.

Jason Simontacchi (9-5) allowed two walks and struck out one in two innings.

The Cardinals left eight runners on base in extra innings — four reached on intentional walks. The Astros went to a five-man infield with the bases loaded and one out in the 12th and Joe Girardi grounded out to center fielder Craig Biggio, playing on the grass in front of second base.

“You have to roll the dice,” Biggio said. “Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. There’s no right way or wrong way, you play the hand out and see what happens.”

Pujols ended it with his 43rd homer, lining an 0-1 pitch from Dan Miceli (1-3) over the left-field wall with one out in the 13th. Pujols beat the Padres with a two-run shot in the 11th inning July 12.

He leads the majors with a .364 average, and earlier this year became the first player in major-league history to get 30 homers, 100 RBIs and score 100 runs in his first three seasons.

“A guy like Albert, he’s eventually going to get you,” Astros catcher Brad Ausmus said.

Pirates 8, Cubs 2

Pittsburgh — Rookie Ryan Vogelsong allowed only an unearned run over seven dominant innings, and Pittsburgh stalled Chicago’s run at the playoffs. The costly loss, their second in a row to the non-contending Pirates, kept the Cubs from closing within a half-game of the NL Central lead. The Astros stayed 11/2 games up despite losing to St. Louis.

Reds 2, Phillies 0

Philadelphia — Todd Van Poppel and two relievers combined on a four-hitter, leading Cincinnati past Philadelphia. Van Poppel, a former first-round pick by Oakland in 1990 pitching for his sixth team, allowed four hits in 61/3 innings, his longest outing in five years. Van Poppel (1-1) struck out five.

Marlins 6, Braves 5 (11)

Atlanta — Miguel Cabrera homered in the 11th inning and Florida took the NL wild-card lead with a victory over Atlanta. Cabrera lined a pitch from Will Cunnane (2-2) into the seats in left leading off the 11th. Javy Lopez hit his 42nd homer of the season — and 41st as a catcher. That tied the major-league record for backstops set by Todd Hundley of the New York Mets in 1996.

D’backs 10, Brewers 4

Milwaukee — Luis Gonzalez drove in three runs and Elmer Dessens won for the first time in almost a month as Arizona beat Milwaukee. Dessens (8-8), who lost and had four no-decisions since his last victory Aug. 21, allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked two as the Diamondbacks won for the sixth time in seven games. Jose Valverde recorded four outs for his 10th save in 11 chances.

Expos 4, Mets 3 (10)

New York — Todd Zeile’s home run in the 10th inning lifted Montreal past the Mets, New York’s seventh straight loss. Zeile homered off Mike Stanton (2-7). The stumbling Mets have lost 15 of 16. They also dropped seven straight to Philadelphia and Florida earlier this month. Zeile hit his fifth homer for the Expos since joining the team Aug. 20.

Padres 11, Rockies 3

Denver — Gary Bennett drove in five runs, and Phil Nevin homered and had three RBIs to lead San Diego past Colorado. Bennett, a former Rockie, was 3-for-5 with a career-high five RBIs. Nevin was 2-for-4 with his 12th home run for the Padres.