Lance Lynn pitched seven solid innings and the St. Louis Cardinals got home runs from Yadier Molina and Carlos Beltran in a 7-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.

Lynn allowed one run and five hits, struck out six and walked one. He improved to 8-1 for the second consecutive season while becoming the third National League pitcher to reach eight wins, trailing Patrick Corbin’s league-leading nine for Arizona.

Molina hit a leadoff drive in the fifth on the same day he received a one-game suspension from Major League Baseball for making contact with umpire Mike Everitt during an argument on Sunday. The All-Star catcher appealed the decision.

Molina’s fourth homer lifted St. Louis to a 5-0 lead. He finished with two hits and two RBIs.

Arizona starter Trevor Cahill was charged with five runs and nine hits in five innings. He walked three and had no strikeouts for the first time this season.

Cahill (3-6) had allowed four earned runs or less in 29 consecutive starts.

The Diamondbacks got their only run in the sixth. Gerardo Parra had a leadoff double, moved up on Martin Prado’s flyout and came home on Paul Goldschmidt’s groundout.

Beltran and Matt Carpenter had three hits apiece for the Cardinals. Beltran’s 13th homer drove in Carpenter and made it 7-1 in the sixth. He also drove in Carpenter in the fourth with a single.

The Cardinals went 5 for 8 with runners in scoring position against the usually stout Cahill. Entering the game, batters had just a .111 average against him in that situation.

David Freese singled in Molina in the third, making it 3-0 and extending his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games. Molina singled in Matt Holliday, before taking second on the throw home and third on a wild pitch.

— Associated Press —