Albert Pujols collected home run No. 695 in the eighth inning and Miles Mikolas tossed eight shutout innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

Pujols drilled the two-run, pinch-hit shot off reliever Brandon Hughes (2-2).

A probable future Hall of Famer, Pujols trails only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696) on the all-time home run list.

Pujols has seven pinch-hit homers in his career, including two this season. He has homered against 451 different pitchers, an all-time record.

Tommy Edman started the rally with a one-out double.

Pujols hit his 130th career home run on Sundays, the most of any day.

Chicago manager David Ross indicated that he would have walked Pujols if Hughes got behind in the count.

St. Louis has won four in a row, 18 of its last 20 home games and is a season-best 24 games over .500 at 79-55. It was the Cardinals’ eighth series sweep of the season.

Chicago has lost seven of eight.

Mikolas (11-10) gave up two hits. He struck out three and walked one. Ryan Helsley earned his 13th save in 17 chances.

Chicago starter Marcus Stroman allowed four hits in seven shutout innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter in a 98-pitch stint.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-0, 5.63) will face Washington RHP Anibal Sanchez (1-5, 5.05) in the first of a four-game series on Monday afternoon in St. Louis. Flaherty has been out since June 27 with a right shoulder strain. He made five rehab starts in the minors.