ST. LOUIS -- He pitched with a snarl.

He threw strikes, he was efficient, he cranked his fastball up to 96 mph, his slider was so filthy it drew two swinging strikeouts in the dirt, and he did just about everything the Pirates had expected Ian Snell to do all summer long in a 4-1 silencing of the St. Louis Cardinals tonight at Busch Stadium.

So, the inevitable question: Where was he all this time?

And another: What ticked him off?

Snell pitched seven scoreless innings, limiting St. Louis to four hits and a walk while fanning eight. Even including his 10-strikeout gem April 6 against the Florida Marlins in Miami, it was his finest work.

Especially when considering all that came before it, given a 4-10 record and two victories in his previous 21 starts.

The Pirates began pushing at Cardinals starter Braden Looper right away, with Nyjer Morgan, freshly recalled, from Class AAA Indianapolis, drawing a game-opening walk. After a forceout, Ryan Doumit boomed an RBI double into the right-center gap, and it was 1-0.

And that was it. Looper settled to hold the Pirates to two singles over the next six innings and never was remotely threatened again.

Thing is, Snell was just as good. St. Louis got one man to third against him, another to second in his final inning. That came with two outs, and Snell, after a visit from pitching coach Jeff Andrews, got pinch-hitter Aaron Miles to hit a flare to shortstop to quash it.

Snell was intensely demonstrative coming off the mound, shouting and twice pumping his right fist.

Sean Burnett came on for the eighth and allowed a single between two outs, but that allowed Albert Pujols to bat with a man aboard, and Pirates manager John Russell turned to Denny Bautista to face the game's best hitter.

It would be prove to be an electric confrontation.

First pitch was a 94-mph strike. Next was a changeup, also a strike. Pujols offered at neither.

After a foul ball and a pitch in the dirt, another changeup came, and Pujols tried to send it over the nearby Gateway Arch but fouled it back. He then fouled another. Then another. Then another.

With the crowd of 39,502 on edge, the 1-2 pitch -- ninth of the at-bat -- was a fastball that Pujols hit with great authority to right-center, causing all in the house to stand and roar. But Morgan, as fast as anyone in professional baseball tracked it down on the track after emphatically calling off Pearce.

All sat back down, and the Pirates' dugout erupted to congratulate Bautista, nearly the goat and suddenly the hero.

That gusto translated to some actual offensive support in the ninth. Doumit opened off Kyle McClellan by sending his third hit of the evening through the middle. Adam LaRoche followed suit exactly. Jason Michaels tried to bunt them over, but St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina tried to get the lead runner and failed.

Bases loaded for Andy LaRoche. He bounced right to second baseman Felipe Lopez, who threw home in plenty of time for the force, but Molina dropped it while apparently trying to rush and get the double play at first. It was 2-0.

Pearce walked, and it was 3-0.

Luis Rivas flied out to center, but Michaels did not try to score from third until an errant throw by Joe Mather. When Michaels broke, St. Louis still had a shot to get him at the plate with McClellan backing up, but Molina -- capping any catcher's defensive nightmare inning, but especially one so accomplished -- strayed off the plate. It was 4-0.

For the Cardinals, always prideful of fundamentals under Tony La Russa, it had to be quite the embarrassment.

St. Louis scored once in the bottom of the ninth off John Grabow and T.J. Beam to break the shutout. Beam walked the bases loaded with two outs, but Brian Barton struck out.