ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols, the reigning MVP who has been known to recall 2006 fondly as the best season of his career, may be in the process of finishing the best month of his career.

The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman has two home runs tonight, setting or matching career highs for RBIs and home runs in a month. His 34 RBIs so far this month break his previous career best of 33 in May 2006. His 14 home runs this month match his total for April of 2006. His first home run of the evening, a solo shot on an 0-2 pitch off lefty Randy Johnson, traveled an estimated 445 feet — but it appeared to have the distance needed to leave Busch Stadium, had it not been for the stairway column that caps the seats in left field.

Pujols’ two homers tonight is his the 30th time in his career that he has had a multi-homer game, and the seventh time this season. He is believed to be the 32nd player in baseball history to reach 30 homers by the break.

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