ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Cardinals won yet another game via the home run.

One day after Albert Pujols hit a game-winning shot in the ninth inning, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen homered to lift the Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Expos .

After the Expos took a 1-0 lead in the sixth, Edmonds, the National League Player of the Month for July, led off the home half of the inning with a blast to deep right field.

Rolen then made a winner of Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter with a solo shot in the eighth off Montreal reliever Luis Ayala (3-7).

"This series, we gave up too many home runs," Expos manager Frank Robinson said. "We couldn't keep the ball in the ballpark this series, and tonight was a perfect example."

The middle of the Cardinals' order - Pujols (31), Rolen (26) and Edmonds (30) - have accounted for 86 of the team's 144 homers this season.

Rolen's shot ended Ayala's scoreless streak at 26 2/3 innings. It was the longest single-season scoreless streak among major league relievers since Mariano Rivera 's 30 1/3 innings for the Yankees in 1999.

"I threw my best pitch," Ayala said. "He was waiting for that pitch, I thought it was a good pitch, I threw him the inside pitch, my sinker and he made contact."

It was Rolen's first home run at Busch Stadium since May 27th, ending a string of 13 straight shots on the road.

"I've never really had good numbers at Busch Stadium, when I was with the Phillies or here," Rolen said. "I always seem to hit a little better on the road and I don't know what the reason is."

Carpenter (12-4) pitched eight innings, allowing one run and four hits while striking out seven. The win was the righthander's fourth in his last five decisions.

"I felt good," said Carpenter, who improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Expos. "I felt like all my pitches were there and my location was there. I really felt like I had a good game plan going in from watching the first two games. My changeup was much better than it's been all year. I was able to throw a few and get ahead in counts and throw some behind in the count to get some outs. That was important."

Jason Isringhausen worked around a hit in the ninth to notch his 28th save.