Albert Pujols put on botched hit-and-run plays for Cardinals

Reporting from St. Louis — The way St. Louis mismanaged its bullpen during a game-changing eighth inning Monday wasn’t the only fundamental breakdown the Cardinals suffered in their Game 5 loss to the Texas Rangers.

They also ran themselves out of potential rallies in the seventh and ninth innings when outfielder Allen Craig, who has stolen five bases in his career, was thrown out trying to steal second base with Albert Pujols at the plate.

After the game, Manager Tony La Russa called the plays “mix-ups” but refused to say anything more. On Tuesday, La Russa said both plays were called by Pujols from the batter’s box without his knowledge.

“Albert has the ability on this club to put a hit-and-run on,” La Russa said. “Whenever I’ve been a manager and a player has a real good feel and can handle the bat and he wanted to be able to put a play on, he’s been given that right. It has everything to do with what Albert has earned as far as his understanding of the game.

“A couple times I said, ‘No, I don’t think it’s a good play here for whatever the reason.’ But yesterday he didn’t ask me before he went up there. I’d say half the time it may develop during the inning and we haven’t discussed it. But I trust Albert, and he put it on yesterday.”

In the first instance, after Craig drew a one-out walk, he took off on a 1-and-1 pitch and was thrown out easily. The Rangers walked Pujols intentionally and the Cardinals wound up loading the bases without scoring.

In the second instance, Craig was hit by a pitch to start the ninth inning, bringing Pujols to the plate representing the tying run. Craig took off on a full-count pitch that Pujols swung through, starting a double play.

Weather forecast

The weather forecast for Game 6 on Wednesday calls for a temperature of 52 degrees and a 50% chance of rain. That’s a considerably brighter outlook than it was a day ago, when an 80% chance of rain and a temperature in the 40s were called for.

If the weather becomes a problem, Manager Ron Washington said he would rather see the game postponed a day than have the teams try to play through a storm.

“We want to make sure the conditions are correct. And if we have to wait a day, then we have to wait a day,” said Washington, whose Rangers are a victory away from their first World Series title.

La Russa said he’s leaving that call up to Bud Selig, baseball’s commissioner.

“If they say play, we’ll play,” he said. “MLB puts all the factors into it and we’d be thinking about it from the St. Louis Cardinal point of view. Whatever they think is best.

“I remember we played here Game 1 and there was talk about waiting an hour, and the commissioner said, ‘No, we’re starting,’ and it was a good decision.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com