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MONTREAL (Ticker) -- Jim Edmonds got over his sore hip and put a little hurt on the Montreal Expos. The 30-year-old center fielder slugged his 31st and 32nd homers and drove in five runs to power the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-7 victory over the Montreal Expos. Edmonds, who sat out the last two games while nursing the injury, tied a career high with five RBI. He gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead with his first homer, a three-run shot in the third, and added a two-run blast in the fifth for a 6-1 lead. "Edmonds sits out two games and comes back like Babe Ruth, hitting home runs to the opposite field on good pitches," winning pitcher Pat Hentgen said. "They're the real story tonight." It was Edmonds' third multi-homer game of the season and 11th of his career. Both of tonight's shots came off Expos starter Mike Johnson (5-6) "I haven't played in two days and I've never been here before," Edmonds said. "I was just trying not to do too much. I was just trying to stay on the ball and hit it up the middle and I got two pitches to hit. Sometimes it works out weird like that. It could have as easily gone the other way." Will Clark, making his first start for the Cardinals since being acquired from the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, led off the second with a home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. He is playing for injured slugger Mark McGwire. "There's a lot more atmosphere here, a lot more adrenaline, pulling for each other on the bench and stuff like that," Clark said. "I've been to the playoffs in '96 and '98 so I've been in a few races. It's fun to be back in one. We had a chance to pick up a game tonight and we did." After Edmonds' three-run shot in the third, Montreal got on the board in the bottom of the frame when Wilton Guerrero doubled, advanced on a sacrifice by Johnson and scored on a groundout by rookie Peter Bergeron. Following Edmonds' blast in the fifth, Clark walked, went to third on a double by Fernando Tatis and came home when Shawon Dunston lifted a sacrifice fly to left. Clark drove in J.D. Drew with a bases-loaded single in the seventh, and Edmonds made it 9-1, scoring as Tatis grounded into a double play. Geoff Blum got back a run for the Expos in the seventh with his sixth homer. After Drew's RBI single in the top of the eighth, the Expos struck for three runs in the bottom half on Lee Stevens' 20th homer with Jose Vidro and Vladimir Guerrero on base. St. Louis made things interesting in the ninth. Wilton Guerrero scored on a miscue by Dave Veres after an infield single by Bergeron, who later scored on a balk by the Cardinals closer. Hentgen (10-8) benefited from Edmonds' power to win for the first time in three outings, recording his eighth straight 10-win season. He allowed two runs and five hits over seven innings. "Competes every time," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "I thought today he had his good command. That's how you win 10 games. He spotted the ball very well." With eight straight 10-win seasons, Hentgen moved into a tie for the third-longest streak among active pitchers. Greg Maddux has 13, Tom Glavine 12 and Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina both have eight straight. Edmonds didn't help Johnson rebound from a bad outing, when he was roughed up for six runs and eight hits in five innings. The Cardinals victimized him for seven runs and seven hits in just 4 1/3 innings. "I haven't been able to get ahead or work ahead," Johnson said. "It's getting to the point where I'm making some decent pitches that shouldn't necessarily be hit for homers and they're getting hit out of the ballpark. Combine inconsistency with a little bad luck, and that's what happened tonight."
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