NATIONAL LEAGUE Edmonds' arm helps Cardinals to 6-4 victory against Pirates

Twice he threw out Pittsburgh runners at home plate from center field.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Pirates rookie Tike Redman tagged up on Reggie Sanders' fly ball to mid-range center in the first and sprinted home on what he no doubt figured was a routine sacrifice fly.
Just imagine Redman's surprise when Jim Edmonds' throw beat him home by 2 feet.
Fast forward to the eighth, and now it's Abraham Nunez rounding third on Redman's single, Pittsburgh's third straight hit to start the inning.
Just imagine Edmonds' surprise when the Pirates sent the runner again.
Repeating what he did seven innings before, Edmonds easily threw out the runner at the plate, blunting Pittsburgh's comeback as the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 6-4 victory Monday night.
Four solo homers
The Cardinals were outhit 17-10, but had just enough solo homers (4) and great throws by Edmonds (2) to win on a night the Pirates stranded 13 runners. St. Louis stayed two games behind the division-leading Astros, who were 3-1 winners over the Cubs.
Afterward, Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was asked if the Pirates erred by repeatedly testing the arm of arguably the NL's premier defensive outfielder.
"I can't blame the third base coach," La Russa said. "Jim is in another league."
Just as the Cardinals would appear to be in a different league than the Pirates, even though St. Louis holds only a 6-5 edge in the season series.
"The type of plays he made are typical of what you see from a championship-type club," Pirates starter Kip Wells said.
"They executed and made those type of plays and we didn't. That's why they're in contention and we're not."
That, of course, and innings like the third.
The Pirates got consecutive singles from Redman, Jason Kendall and Brian Giles, but couldn't score. Redman failed to tag up and score on Reggie Sanders' fly ball to right with the bases loaded and one out, allowing Dan Haren (3-3) to escape the threat by getting Randall Simon to ground out.
Stranded in eighth
The Pirates repeated the pattern in the eighth, failing to score despite starting the inning with four consecutive hits.
After Nunez was thrown out at the plate, relievers Pedro Borbon and Cal Eldred each came on to retire a batter.
"It's like hitting a home run -- you take a run away," Edmonds said of throwing out a runner at home. "Any time you do it, it's a bonus."
The Cardinals had plenty of homers, too, with Albert Pujols, Bo Hart, Miguel Cairo and Scott Rolen hitting solo shots in the first four innings off Wells (5-6) to open a 4-0 lead.