Ryan Ludwick homered and drove in four runs and Colby Rasmus added a two-run homer as the St. Louis Cardinals secured a 9-3 win over the Seattle Mariners in the first game of an interleague series on Monday.

Albert Pujols finished with three hits and an RBI and Matt Holliday had a pair of hits and scored twice for St. Louis, which entered having dropped six of seven.

Adam Wainwright (9-4) pitched seven strong innings, allowing three runs on six hits to get the win.

One of the hits came from Ichiro Suzuki, who opened the game with a leadoff home run, his second of the season.

Trailing 2-0, the Cardinals took the lead in the bottom of the first on Ludwick’s three-run blast and didn’t look back, scoring four in the fifth inning for an 8-2 advantage.

Seattle starter Luke French (0-1) was tagged with the loss, giving up four runs on six hits over four innings.

Chone Figgins and Jose Lopez each drove in runs for the Mariners, who dropped to 9-23 on the road.