Matt Holliday is hoping to play a key role in another playoff run for the St. Louis Cardinals. He sure got plenty of help on Sunday.

Holliday had four hits and four RBIs, Adam Wainwright won his fifth consecutive start and the Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 on Sunday.

Allen Craig homered and drove in three runs as St. Louis handed the Reds their second series loss in 13 sets since the All-Star break. The Cardinals have won five of six to move within six games of the NL Central-leading Reds.

“Holliday had a huge day,” manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s amazing how the conversations outside of this clubhouse start questioning him. It’s not long before he shows everybody how much he means to us.”

Holliday is batting .444 (12 for 27) with eight RBIs in his last six games. St. Louis stormed to the World Series title last year and is leading the race for the final NL wild card this season, but is still holding out hope for catching Cincinnati in the division.

“I’m just trying to do my part,” Holliday said. “This is a team game. We only play the Reds three more times. We are going to need some help.”

St. Louis’ 17 hits are the most allowed by Cincinnati in one game this season. The Cardinals collected 42 hits while taking two of three in the weekend series.

“Those guys are all hitting .300,” Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips said. “I don’t know who is making outs for that team.”

Wainwright (13-10) allowed two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings while improving to 6-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his last seven starts overall. The 6-foot-7 right-hander, who missed all of last season because of elbow surgery, hasn’t lost since July 18 at Milwaukee.

“I wanted to take my team further in the game than that, but I get it,” Wainwright said. “I had a couple of games in a row that I threw a lot of pitches.”

Reds manager Dusty Baker said Wainwright was on his game.

“Wainwright threw the ball well,” Baker said. “There’s not much else to say, except they beat us.”

Reds right-hander Homer Bailey (10-9) gave up five runs in six innings while falling to 1/3 with a 6.04 ERA in five August starts. He also allowed a season-high nine hits for the sixth time.

The Cardinals strung together four consecutive ground-ball singles during a five-hit third inning that plated three runs. Skip Schumaker led off with a double to right-center, and Wainwright chipped in with a one-out single into left field. Schumaker scored on Jon Jay’s base hit up the middle and Matt Carpenter singled to load the bases before Holliday’s two-run single to left.

“With Wainwright on the mound, we felt pretty good with those first three runs,” Holliday said.

St. Louis added two more in the sixth to make it 5-0. Holliday hit a leadoff triple before Craig drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left for his 20th homer.

“The two Matts got on base. That got us started. I take pride in driving in runs,” Craig said.

Chris Heisey and Ryan Ludwick had RBI singles in the sixth for Cincinnati, which beat the Cardinals 8-2 on Saturday.

Holliday also doubled in a run in the seventh and singled in Carpenter in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

Nothing was working for Jake Westbrook, a groundball pitcher who gave up three sacrifice flies.

No worries with the St. Louis Cardinals offense ringing up 17 hits against a team that’s still waiting for the adrenaline charge that usually comes with changing managers.

David Freese’s three-run homer snapped the team’s seven-game long-ball drought and Matt Holliday’s three-run double was the go-ahead blow as St. Louis beat the Houston Astros 13-5 Thursday to complete a three-game sweep.

“I was in trouble the whole day, really,” Westbrook said. “Our offense came through and really picked me up. Picked this team up.”

Freese and Holliday each had four RBIs and Allen Craig had three hits and three RBIs. The Cardinals shrugged aside a 4-0, fourth-inning deficit and sent Houston to its seventh straight loss.

“This team, they get the blood in the water and they can pile them on,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

The Astros are 0-4 while getting outscored 32-8 since interim manager Tony DeFrancesco replaced Brad Mills as leader of the stripped-down roster. Houston has won just seven of its last 50 overall.

“We got 11 hits and some of the guys got some big days, so there is some life,” DeFrancesco said. “Unfortunately, once the game gets out of hand it’s tough for our guys to continue to bounce back after they’ve been getting beat on for a while.”

Ben Francisco had three hits for the Astros, who were swept for the third time this month and 12th overall.

Westbrook (13-9) won for the fourth time in five starts despite struggles with control two days after getting a new contract for next season with a mutual option for 2014.

Westbrook surrendered five runs on seven hits, two walks and two hit batters in five innings, ending a string of 13 consecutive starts of at least six innings.

Astros rookie lefty Dallas Keuchel (1-6) retired 11 of the first 12 batters, but six of his last seven reached base, one on an error. He earned his first career RBI on a sacrifice fly in the second, but was charged with five earned runs in four-plus innings.

“I felt good today, thought it was going to be another quality start,” Keuchel said. “That fifth inning kind of unraveled things.”

The Cardinals were 10 for 14 with runners in scoring position against five pitchers to sweep the Astros for the first time since April 2009 and wrap up a 6-3 homestand with a string of contenders awaiting.

St. Louis starts a 10-game trip Friday night with three games at NL Central-leading Cincinnati, followed by three at wild card-contending Pittsburgh and four at NL East-leading Washington.

“A very big road trip, there’s no doubt about that,” Matheny said. “We need to string them together, that’s all there is to it.”

Like Westbrook, the 24-year-old Keuchel entered with decent recent numbers with three consecutive quality starts. He’s 0-6 in nine starts since beating the Indians with a six-hitter on June 23.

Freese’s 16th homer capped a two-out rally in the fourth. The Astros elected to pitch to Freese instead of Daniel Descalso, just 3 for 21 during the homestand to that point and batting .226.

The first five Cardinals reached safely to start the fifth, including an error. Holliday had been just 5 for 36 with two RBIs on the homestand, put St. Louis ahead 7-5 with his double.

“I know I’ve been struggling but I don’t really feel that far off,” Holliday said. “I try to make it day by day and just try to have good at-bats.”

— Associated Press —

Kyle Lohse pitched seven innings of three-hit ball to earn his seventh consecutive win, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Astros 4-2 on Wednesday night.

Lohse (13-2) gave up two runs and retired his last 14 batters while improving to 7-0 with a 2.21 ERA in 12 starts since he dropped a 3-2 decision against Kansas City on June 15.

The Cardinals have won consecutive games to grab a half-game lead on Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

Mitchell Boggs worked a scoreless eighth and Jason Motte finished for his 29th save in 34 chances, completing a three-hitter.

Allen Craig extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games with a first-inning single and scored a run for St. Louis. Jon Jay, Daniel Descalso and Yadier Molina each drove in a run.

Brett Wallace and Chris Snyder homered for the Astros, who are winless in three games under interim manager Tony DeFrancesco. Houston, which dropped to 12-50 on the road, has lost six straight and is just 7-42 since June 28.

Bud Norris (5-11) allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings to fall to 0-10 with a 6.78 ERA in his last 14 starts.

— Associated Press —