ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- So Taguchi came up big in a pinch.

Taguchi's pinch three-run homer highlighted a four-run rally in the seventh inning and lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 9-6 triumph over the Florida Marlins .

A career .240 batter as a pinch hitter, Taguchi had struggled in the role this year, collecting just two hits in 18 pinch at-bats prior to Wednesday's heroics.

Taguchi gave St. Louis the lead for good with his blast against newly acquired reliever Ron Villone (0-1). With the Cardinals trailing 4-2, Mark Grudzielanek singled with one out and Abraham Nunez followed with a walk against Marlins starter Josh Beckett .

With pinch hitter John Mabry scheduled to hit for the Cardinals, Marlins manager Jack McKeon lifted Beckett in favor of the lefthanded Villone, who was acquired Sunday from Seattle.

"I would have looked to Mabry as the guy who was probably more dangerous," McKeon said. "He's a guy we've known in the past who can hit one out of the park."

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa opted to go with the righthanded Taguchi, who gave the Cardinals a 5-4 lead by blasting Villone's 1-0 offering over the left field wall for his sixth homer of the season. It was Taguchi's first homer in 50 career at-bats as a pinch hitter.

"I was waiting for (a pitch) in the middle," Taguchi said. "I saw the ball coming to the middle so I swung hard." Villone, who struggled to find the strike zone in Tuesday's contest, was disappointed with his pitch to Taguchi.

"It's a game of inches," said Villone, who had allowed only one run in his last 21 appearances. "If I get that ball three or four inches inside like I want to, it's a foul ball, but I left it on the plate just enough for him to keep it fair."

The homer prompted a curtain call from Taguchi.

"It was the most exciting (moment) of my baseball life," Taguchi said.

David Eckstein followed with a base hit and advanced to third on rookie John Rodriguez 's single. Villone was lifted in favor of Antonio Alfonseca , who promptly uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Eckstein to score as the Cardinals took a 6-4 lead.

Eckstein collected three hits, including a solo homer in the third and an RBI double in the eighth. The home run broke an 0-for-12 slump for the shortstop.

"(The pitch) was a changeup," Eckstein said. "I was just trying to battle up there and fortunately enough, it went out."

Cardinals starter Matt Morris (12-4) worked seven frames to snap a personal two-game skid. The righthander yielded four runs, nine hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

"My stuff was pretty good," said Morris, who improved to 7-1 lifetime against Florida. "I tried to make a couple of adjustments as the game went on. Luckily, I was in there until the seventh and Taguchi gets in there with a big hit, and I'm the fortunate one on the winning end."

Beckett allowed four runs, four hits and two walks with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

"They've got a lot of good hitters on that team," Beckett said. "My philosophy was not to really give in to them. That really ended up burning me in that last inning, that walk really hurt me and therefore I was out of the game."

Luis Castillo launched a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the ninth to cut Florida's deficit to 9-6, but Jason Isringhausen retired Jeff Conine on a hard grounder to Eckstein at shortstop to preserve the win.