MONTREAL – Scott Rolen’s sacrifice fly in the ninth inning led the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Montreal Expos on Tuesday night.

Garrett Stephenson scattered four hits for his first complete game since Aug. 5, 2000, and outdueled Livan Hernandez in a game that took just 2 hours and 4 minutes.

Rolen was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, including a homer in the second inning.

Stephenson (5-10) made his first start since July 17 and struck out four and walked none. His last two appearances were in relief, and he was 0-5 with a 5.91 ERA in his previous six starts.

Hernandez (10-7), 4-0 with a 1.76 ERA in his five previous starts in July, allowed five hits and two runs in his third complete game this month.

After striking out twice while going hitless in his first three at-bats, Albert Pujols singled with one out in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Pujols advanced to third on Tino Martinez’s single before scoring the go-ahead run on Rolen’s fly to center.

Rolen gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with his 22nd homer on a 2-2 pitch from Hernandez with one out in the second.

The Cardinals might have gotten more if not for a fine defensive play, started by Hernandez. Edgar Renteria singled and Kerry Robinson hit a hard liner back at Hernandez, who stabbed his glove down to spear the drive and quickly threw the ball to first baseman Wil Cordero for an inning-ending double play.

Montreal tied it in the third on Jamey Carroll’s ground-rule double, Hernandez’s sacrifice and Endy Chavez’s run-scoring double.

Stephenson faced four over the minimum, retiring the last 14 batters he faced following Carroll’s one-out single in the fifth.

Hernandez was perfect in the first, third, fourth, sixth and eighth. He retired 15 of 16 between Renteria’s single and Rolen’s two-out double in the seventh.

Expos second baseman Jose Vidro returned to the lineup after missing five of six starts because of a strained right knee. Vidro, batting fifth for the first time this season behind Vladimir Guerrero, went 0-for-3.

Notes: The Cardinals’ previous shortest game this season was 2:05 in a 2-0 win over Chicago on May 19. Montreal played a game in 2:03 in a 5-1 loss in Florida on May 26. … Pujols is hitting .442 (23-for-52) over the course of his streak. … St. Louis activated 2B Miguel Cairo from the 15-day DL earlier in the day. Cairo missed 35 games with a broken bone in his left pinkie. … Vidro has batted second 39 times this season, third 38 times, and cleanup 15 times. … Guerrero dropped Renteria’s shallow fly to right in the fifth for a two-base error.

AP-ES-07-29-03 2135EDT