Manager Ron Roenicke wants Casey McGehee to play a big role in the Brewers’ offense, not try to carry the club. McGehee did both Wednesday.

The Brewers third baseman homered three times and Milwaukee rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-5 and add to their NL Central lead.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had three in a game ever. It’s something I’ll definitely remember. It was kind of one of those out of body experiences,” McGehee said. “It was nice, especially to be able to sit back and enjoy it that we were able to win the game.”

McGehee hit go-ahead, two-run homers in both the first and third innings and added a seventh-inning solo shot to give Milwaukee its eighth win in nine games at Miller Park. Corey Hart also homered for the Brewers, who extended their lead over the Cardinals to 3½ games in the division.

Rafael Furcal hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs off Randy Wolf (8-8) in his fourth game since being acquired Sunday in a trade with the Dodgers, but new Cardinals starter Edwin Jackson struggled.

Jackson (1-1) made his second start with St. Louis since being acquired in a three-team trade with the White Sox. He gave up 10 runs — eight earned — and allowed 14 hits over seven innings of extended work because of St. Louis’ worn-down bullpen following an 11-inning win on Tuesday.

“We’re playing 20 in a row,” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. “We needed to get as deep in his allotment today as he could. He took it for us. We appreciate it.”

David Freese singled in a run to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the first. Hart homered to start the bottom of the inning and McGehee hit a two-out, two-run home run to make it 3-1.

Furcal’s three-run homer — his first in a Cardinals uniform — gave St. Louis a 4-3 lead in the second, but McGehee answered again with another two-run homer in the third to put Milwaukee ahead for good, 5-4. McGehee’s second homer was hit so hard that left fielder Matt Holliday never moved to try and chase it.

The Brewers pulled away from there, improving to an MLB-best 41-15 at home this season.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina cost St. Louis two unearned runs when Ryan Braun scored on a passed ball in the fifth, and George Kottaras scored from third to make it 9-5 after Molina threw a ball into center field trying to catch Hart stealing in the sixth.

McGehee followed with a solo shot in the seventh for the final margin and came out for a curtain call. The third baseman appears to be breaking out of his season-long slump. He’s hitting .351 with 12 RBIs over his last 15 games to lift his batting average from .221 to .240.

“He puts more on himself than maybe he should. He’s not the guy that’s going to carry this team,” Roenicke said. “He’s a huge part in that offense and I don’t ever want him thinking if he’s not doing his part, that’s the reason why we’re not winning because he’s big for us, but so are a lot of other guys.”

The Brewers need a hitter in the fifth spot to protect Prince Fielder since Rickie Weeks went out of the lineup with a severely sprained ankle and may need up to six weeks to recover.

“I feel like the guys in here have definitely stood by me, had confidence in me,” McGehee said. “I think especially with Rick being out, we’ve all got to kind of band together, pick up the slack because that’s something that’s really tough to replace.”

It was a heated series throughout and could be a prelude of things to come — the teams square off nine more times this season with a three-game matchup beginning Tuesday in St. Louis.

“We’ve got a lot of baseball left, by no means, no matter what happened in this series was going to be the nail in the coffin either way,” McGehee said. “We’ve got a lot of work left to do, but we’re definitely, I feel like, on the right track.”

Milwaukee won Monday’s opener 6-2 and the Cardinals complained about the LED ribbon scoreboards around Miller Park giving the home team an unfair lighting advantage. The Cardinals took Tuesday’s game 8-7 in 11 after bean ball warnings were issued to both benches in the seventh. Furcal saved the game with a catch in the ninth, Molina confronted umpire Rob Drake and was ejected in the 10th and Lance Berkman won it with a two-out hit in the 11th.

Molina and the Cardinals had not heard what discipline the All-Star catcher might receive for his actions with Drake.

Albert Pujols played after being hit by a pitch on Tuesday night near where he broke his left wrist earlier this season. He finished 0 for 5 with two strikeouts.

“He’ll never admit to anything. It is what it is,” La Russa said. “I’m sure he’s sore. No excuses.”

— Associated Press —

Rather than get steamed, Mark Reynolds got busy.

On a night when the gametime temperature was 107 degrees, Reynolds overcame a tough first at-bat to homer, double, single and drive in five runs as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals 8-2 Tuesday.

Reynolds could’ve done even more damage, but grounded into a double play with the bases loaded that ended the first inning.

“That first at-bat was real frustrating,” Reynolds said. “I had a chance to hit at least a sac fly.”

Manager Buck Showalter, however, had some encouraging words for Reynolds.

“I patted him on the back after he came in between innings and I said, ‘there will be another big at-bat here, let’s go,” Showalter said. “He accepted the challenge. I thought the double was the key at-bat of the night.”

A hot night, for sure.

Research by the Royals media relations department could not find a hotter temperature to start a game at Kansas City. It was 106 for a game on July 30, 1980.

Reynolds, who leads the Orioles with 60 RBIs, stroked a two-out, two-run double in the third. The hit drove in J.J. Hardy, who snapped an 0-for-18 slide with a single, and Nick Markakis, who had walked.

“I had the bases loaded again, shortened up, tried to hit the ball into the gap,” Reynolds said. “He threw me a fastball down the middle and I was able to get a good swing.”

Reynolds hit his 24th home run in the ninth with Markakis and Vladimir Guerrero aboard to break open a 5-2 game. The shot to left field hit off the Royals’ 2012 All-Star Game logo, which was unveiled before the game.

“I didn’t know I hit it, but I don’t feel bad about it,” said Reynolds, who matched a career high for RBIs.

Orioles newcomer Chris Davis also homered in the ninth off Royals rookie left-hander Everett Teaford, who was just recalled from Triple-A Omaha.

Reynolds, who played with the Arizona Diamondbacks before this year, said he has never played in a hotter game.

“It was definitely really, really hot,” Reynolds said. “We play in a dome in Arizona.”

Royals starter Bruce Chen labored through 4 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and four walks. He threw 115 pitches.

“It was hot,” Chen said. “But we all knew it was going to be that way and we’ve got a great training staff. They made sure we had plenty of fluids and electrolytes. I usually warm up for 15 minutes before the game, but I did most of my stuff inside before.”

Alfredo Simon (3-4) curbed the Royals on four hits for seven innings.

Simon gave up a run in the first on doubles by Melky Cabrera and Eric Hosmer, but blanked the Royals on two hits the next six innings. Simon, who moved into the Orioles’ rotation on July 16, walked one and struck out three.

The Orioles increased their lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Reynolds scored from second on Davis’ infield single. Before Davis’ hit, Matt Wieters drew a walk on 13 pitches, fouling off seven pitches.

Chen, who was roughed up for 10 runs and 10 hits in four innings in his previous start at Boston, did not make it out of the fifth. Chen (5-5) is 0-3 in his past four starts.

Baltimore added a run in the sixth off rookie reliever Louis Coleman with Hardy’s double to left scoring Robert Andino, who led off the inning with bunt single.

Billy Butler’s sacrifice fly in the eighth scored Alex Gordon off reliever Tommy Hunter.

— Associated Press —

Lance Berkman singled in Matt Holliday with two out in the 11th inning and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-7 on Tuesday in a matchup of NL Central contenders that turned testy as the night wore on.

Sluggers Albert Pujols of the Cardinals and Ryan Braun each were hit by a pitch in the seventh, and Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina became so incensed after he was ejected in the 10th that plate umpire Rob Drake had to wipe his face during the argument.

St. Louis’ first win at Miller Park in five tries this season snapped Milwaukee’s seven-game winning streak and trimmed the Brewers’ NL Central lead to 2 1-2 games.

Holliday sparked the Cardinals’ winning rally by beating a grounder to shortstop with two out. Holliday then swiped second for his first stolen base of the season and scored when Berkman hit a shallow flare to left against Marco Estrada (2-7).

Kyle McClellan (8-6) allowed a one-out single to Casey McGehee in the 11th, but earned the victory after Octavio Dotel got the final two outs for his first save in the NL this year and second this season.

Takashi Saito loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh after he hit Pujols on the left wrist that the slugger broke earlier this season. Holliday, who had homered in the second, followed with a double-play grounder that scored newcomer Rafael Furcal and tied it at 7. Berkman then grounded out to end the threat.

Tempers began to flare in the bottom of the inning after Jason Motte plunked Braun with a 97 mph fastball.

Drake warned both sides, but didn’t eject anyone as Molina walked Braun down to first. Fielder moved forward from the on-deck circle, telling his teammates to stay back to keep the situation from escalating.

Motte was removed for Marc Rzepczynski, who walked Fielder. Lance Lynn allowed an infield hit to McGehee. Yuniesky Betancourt popped up harmlessly, Jonathan Lucroy hit into a fielder’s choice to third baseman Daniel Descalso, who cut down Braun at home, and pinch-hitter Mark Kotsay struck out.

St. Louis loaded the bases with one out in the eighth but Francisco Rodriguez got Furcal to hit into a fielder’s choice and struck out pinch-hitter Ryan Theriot. The excitable K-Rod shouted and pumped his fist, then blew a kiss to the sky as he walked off the mound. Theriot glared at him during the extended celebration.

Both teams had runners on in the ninth and shortstop Furcal saved the game with an over-the-shoulder catch with two on and two outs.

Drake tossed Molina for arguing a called third strike and the All-Star appeared to hit the umpire with spittle during his tirade. He had to be restrained by Descalso.

Milwaukee held a 3-1 lead before St. Louis scored five times in the fourth against Shaun Marcum, capped when Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia hit a three-run shot for his first career homer. Garcia entered batting .068 this season.

The Brewers answered with four unearned runs in the fifth on a rally that started after an errant throw by Skip Schumaker at second and ended when Betancourt’s three-run homer put Milwaukee ahead 7-6, setting up the wild final innings.

— Associated Press —