MLB: St. Louis 5, San Francisco 2

ST. LOUIS, July 2 (UPI) -- Todd Wellemeyer took a shutout into the eighth inning Thursday and Ryan Ludwick drove in two runs to bring St. Louis a 5-2 win over San Francisco.

Albert Pujols, who came into the game with a .632 batting average in six games against the Giants this season, went hitless in two at bats but drew two intentional walks. He leads the majors with 30 homers and 77 RBI.

Wellemeyer (7-7) blanked the Giants until Aaron Rowand hit a one-out, two-run homer in the eighth. Three relievers combined to record the last five outs, with Ryan Franklin working a perfect ninth for his 19th save.

The Cardinals have won back-to-back games after dropping six out of seven.

St. Louis sent eight men to the plate and scored three times in the first inning off Barry Zito (4-8).

Brendan Ryan singled to open the inning and moved to third on a double by Skip Schumaker. After Pujols was walked intentionally to load the bases, Ludwick produced a run with an infield single, Yadier Molina drew a bases-loaded walk and Chris Duncan drove in a run with a fielder's choice grounder.

Ludwick's other RBI came on a single in the fifth inning.