“He’s obviously one of the best hitters in the league,” Webb said of Pujols. “I went with what I thought was the best pitch at the time, it kind of stayed up and he swung over it. That was big.”

The Diamondbacks restored the two-run lead in the eighth on pinch hitter Chad Tracy’s RBI double off Russ Springer. Brandon Lyon escaped unscathed after the Cardinals had two on and none out in the eighth and Chad Qualls finished for his seventh save in 15 chances.

Wellemeyer lost his third straight start, allowing three runs on nine hits in six innings. He’s 1-5 in his last six decisions despite a 3.32 ERA in that span.

“I felt pretty good and had some good stuff working,” Wellemeyer said. “That’s an aggressive team and stuff didn’t go our way.”

The Cardinals just missed turning an inning-ending double play on Webb’s one-out grounder to second against a drawn-in infield in the fourth, a call at first that La Russa argued was an out, one at-bat before Drew’s RBI double. The Cardinals’ relay from right fielder Ryan Ludwick to Lopez at second to the plate caught Webb trying to score for the final out of the inning.

Arizona’s Mark Reynolds struck out twice and has 198 on the year, one off the major league record set last year by the Phillies’ Ryan Howard, right behind at 195 strikeouts.

Notes: Cardinals C Yadier Molina has had only two at-bats in 11 games since bruising his right thigh in a home-plate collision with Cubs pitcher Ted Lilly on Sept. 10, although La Russa expects him to play sometime in the final week. ... Adam Dunn walked twice and has a major league-high 117 walks. ... Drew is batting .395 (17-for-43) in his last 10 games overall.

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