ST. LOUIS (AP) — Initial tests were positive on Carlos Martinez’ problematic shoulder. So maybe at least the St. Louis Cardinals had something to smile about.

After lasting just seven pitches in a 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers Friday night, the 24-year-old right-hander said there wasn’t a lot of pain but added he had some weakness. The Cardinals have scheduled an MRI for Saturday.

“I’m not too concerned about it,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “But I’m going to wait till tomorrow and see what happens.”

Martinez said he first experienced stiffness against the Cubs his last start and that the shoulder was “a little tight” for his bullpen session, but “thought he could push through it.”

“But after the first pitch I knew something was bothering me a little bit,” he added.

Manager Mike Matheny was somewhat aware of the pitcher’s issues but couldn’t tell during pregame warmups “because a lot of times he just kind of goes nice and easy.”

“I know the fact they came back and ran him through all the tests and weren’t overly concerned with what they saw, that’s a good thing,” the manager added.

Khris Davis homered off Trevor Rosenthal leading off the ninth inning for Milwaukee, atoning for a base-running gaffe earlier. Davis thought there were two outs instead of one when he kept running on a routine fly ball and was easily doubled off second in the fourth.

“I completely blanked out,” Davis said. “I can’t afford to make those mistakes.”

Coming through in the ninth said, made it that much sweeter.

“Yeah, you can write that,” Davis said.

The loss cut the Cardinals’ NL Central lead to three games over Pittsburgh with eight games remaining.

Rosenthal (2-3) was St. Louis’ eighth reliever and Davis’ 24th homer was just the second allowed by the St. Louis closer; the other was by Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang on May 3 in St. Louis.

Davis was 1 for 5 with four strikeouts against Rosenthal before lining a 1-1 fastball into the right-field bullpen.

“I don’t know the numbers, but I know he’s got great stuff,” Davis said. “I was just looking to get on base.”

Will Smith (7-2) got the Brewers out of danger in the eighth and Francisco Rodriguez earned his 36th save in 38 chances.

Milwaukee has lost 12 of 17 against the Cardinals this season and 53 of the last 77 meetings.

Martinez flinched after a called first strike to Adam Lind, then left the field with his glove covering his face and in apparent pain. Martinez is among the NL leaders in wins (14) and ERA (3.01).

Lefty Tyler Lyons replaced Martinez and had five strikeouts in a row in the second and third.

“You just get thrown right in the fire,” Lyons said. “You’ve got to make pitches off the bat.”

Jean Segura scored from second to tie it at 3 in the seventh when rookie second baseman Greg Garcia couldn’t get the ball out of his glove on a two-out grounder by pinch-hitter Domingo Santana.

“That play hurts,” Garcia said. “It’s a big game.”

Jonathan Lucroy had a pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth and Jordan Schafer doubled twice. Starter Ariel Pena allowed three runs in five innings.

The Cardinals got RBI from Matt Carpenter, Stephen Piscotty and Tony Cruz.

FULL HOUSE

The attendance of 45,057 was the Cardinals’ 35th sellout with two dates remaining.

COOLING OFF PERIOD

Cardinals rookie Tommy Pham, who entered with a major league-best .412 average including three homers since Sept. 15, struck out in all four at-bats. … Pinch-runner Peter Bourjos was caught stealing for eighth time in 13 attempts in the eighth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: Ryan Braun (lower back) missed his sixth consecutive start but lined out as a pinch hitter to end the eighth. … Lucroy, coming off a concussion, has a pinch-hit single the last two games and finished at first base.

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright is scheduled for a second simulated game Saturday. The two-time 20-game winner is attempting to come back just five months after tearing his left Achilles.

UP NEXT

Lefty Jaime Garcia (9-5, 2.45) is 6-1 with a 2.83 ERA in 10 starts since Aug. 1 and the Cardinals are 9-1. Tyler Wagner (0-0, 12.27) makes his second career start for the Brewers.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jhonny Peralta and Stephen Piscotty hit back-to-back homers and combined for seven RBI to power the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night.

St. Louis has won five straight and holds a four-game lead over Pittsburgh for the NL Central lead.

The Cardinals trailed 3-0 in the fourth when Peralta hit a three-run homer into the center field bleachers, and Piscotty followed two pitches later with a blast into the left-center seats. The homer by Peralta, St. Louis’ cleanup hitter, was his first since Aug. 1.

Piscotty added a two-run, two-out single off Taylor Jungmann (9-7) in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the seventh.

St. Louis, a major league-best 97-56, went 41 games over .500 for the first time.

Michael Wacha (17-6) worked five innings and allowed three runs, all in a 28-pitch first inning when he gave up three hits and walked two. Rookie Jason Rogers singled in Milwaukee’s first run, and Hernan Perez drove in two with an opposite-field double grounded just fair down the right field line.

Five Cardinals relievers limited the Brewers to three singles over the final four innings.

In his first career start, Brewers SS Yadiel Rivera grounded a single to left on the 11th pitch he saw in the first inning for his first career hit.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: C Jonathan Lucroy (concussion), out of the lineup since Sept. 8, singled in an eighth-inning pinch-hit appearance and stayed in to play first base. Lucroy is not expected to catch again this year, manager Craig Counsell said.

Cardinals: LF Matt Holliday (quad) is being eased into his return from an eight-week stint on the disabled list. After going 1 for 3 Wednesday in his first start since July 29, Holliday was not in the lineup.

UP NEXT

Brewers: Rookie Ariel Pena (2-0, 3.50) has pitched five innings and allowed no more than two runs in each of his first three starts, including a no-decision against the Cardinals Sept. 15.

Cardinals: Carlos Martinez (14-7, 3.01) will look to continue his dominant pitching against the Brewers. Martinez has allowed one run in 15 innings against Milwaukee, striking out 17 and giving up six hits.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matt Carpenter hit a pair of two-run homers, Lance Lynn pitched six scoreless innings and the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Cincinnati Reds 10-2 Wednesday night.

The win was the fourth straight for the NL Central leaders and it improved their major league-best record to 96-56. Randal Grichuk and Peter Bourjos also homered as the Cardinals hit four for the first time this season.

Matt Holliday returned to the St. Louis lineup for the first time since July 29 and contributed an RBI double.

Both of Carpenter’s homers came off Brandon Finnegan (4-1), who allowed six runs in five innings.

Lynn (12-10) gave up three singles, walked none and allowed only one runner to reach second before leaving with the Cardinals ahead 9-0.

St. Louis catcher Travis Tartamella singled in his first major league at-bat in the eighth.

Cincinnati slugger Joey Votto hit his 29th homer in the seventh and singled while extending his streak of reaching base safely to 40 games, one shy of his career best.

WAINWRIGHT GETS CLOSER

Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright moved a step closer to returning when he faced hitters for the first time since having left Achilles surgery April 30. The operation was expected to end his season, but Wainwright now hopes to pitch out of the bullpen next week. After throwing 25 pitches in simulated-game conditions to Cardinals hitters, Wainwright said he felt strong but lacked sharpness. “I like being out there again,” he said. “I wanted to be better than that. The second time, it’s got to improve.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: RHP Rafael Iglesias, removed from the rotation last week because of shoulder fatigue, has not been shut down for the season. Manager Bryan Price said Iglesias’ shoulder is stronger and he could pitch before the season ends.

Cardinals: Holliday (quad), Grichuk (elbow) and 1B Matt Adams (quad) have all returned to the lineup after stints on the disabled list, but none of them have been cleared to start on consecutive days. That could change soon, manager Mike Matheny said.

UP NEXT

Reds: Josh Smith (0-2, 7.71 ERA) will oppose fellow rookie Steven Matz in the opener of a four-game home series against the NL East-leading New York Mets. Matz won his major league debut against Smith and the Reds 7-2 in June.

Cardinals: Michael Wacha (16-6, 3.08) will make his first start this season against Milwaukee in the opener of St. Louis’ final home series. Wacha has given up 12 earned runs in 15 innings over his past three starts.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — John Lackey pitched seven strong innings, rookie Tommy Pham continued his productive hitting and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 Tuesday night.

Lackey (13-9) allowed only a first-inning homer by Jay Bruce during his 16th quality start in 16 outings at Busch Stadium. The veteran right-hander struck out seven, walked none and lowered his home ERA to 1.97.

St. Louis improved to a major league-best 95-56 with its second straight low-scoring victory over Cincinnati. Steve Cishek worked the ninth to earn his first save for St. Louis.

Pham hit a sacrifice fly to deep center in the seventh that scored Tony Cruz and broke a 1-all tie. Pham drove in the Cardinals’ first run with a third-inning double that brought in Matt Carpenter, who doubled with one out. Since moving into the lineup eight games ago, Pham has nine RBI, eight extra-base hits and is batting .407.

Lackey induced three ground-ball double plays in the first five innings that thwarted rallies and brought his National League-leading total to 28.

Bruce’s 456-foot homer off a 93 mph fastball from Lackey was the longest by a left-handed hitter at 10-year-old Busch Stadium.

Kolten Wong drove in the Cardinals’ third run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Joey Votto walked in the top of the eighth to reach base for the 39th consecutive game.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Reds: C Brayan Pena started for the first time since injuring his right hamstring Sept. 8. He singled twice in three at-bats before being lifted for a pinch runner.

Cardinals: C Yadier Molina said he plans to return before the end of the regular season despite a thumb injury. Molina was relieved to hear he would not need surgery after sustaining a slight tear in his left thumb ligament Sunday. “Five, seven, 10 days, whatever it is, but no surgery,” he said. “That was good news.”

UP NEXT

Reds: Rookie LHP Brandon Finnegan, acquired from Kansas City in the Johnny Cueto trade, will make his second career start in the finale of the three-game series. Finnegan allowed three hits and one run in five innings and picked up a win at Milwaukee last week.

Cardinals: Lance Lynn will try to get on the right track after lasting 3 1/3 innings at Wrigley Field last week. Lynn (11-10, 3.28) has a 5.11 ERA over his past five starts.

— Associated Press —