ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals relied on power and the pitching of Carlos Martinez to solve their home woes Friday night.

Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty supplied two-run homers for the National League’s leading home run team and Martinez (14-7) pitched seven strong innings in a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

The win improved the Cardinals to 31-38 at Busch Stadium and kept them a half-game behind the New York Mets for the NL’s second wild card.

Jimmy Nelson (7-14) retired the first eight Cardinals before Martinez started a two-out rally with a single up the middle. Carpenter followed with his 19th home run, Kolten Wong walked and Piscotty gave St. Louis the lead by hitting his 21st homer into the bullpen in right field.

“That gave me the extra energy to make it through and get the win for the team,” Martinez said of the long balls.

Martinez gave up nine hits and hit two batters in seven innings but was helped by three double plays. He equaled his win total from last season and improved to 3-0 in four starts against Milwaukee.

“He’s our guy right now,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “Carlos has been so consistent we’ve begun to anticipate he’s going to have that strong outing.”

Nelson lasted six innings and allowed five hits but fell to 0-7 in eight career starts against St. Louis.

“The two guys that can really hurt him, hurt him,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Make mistakes to those guys and that’s what’s going to happen.”

“It’s just a crazy game and stuff happens,” Nelson said. “There’s never really just one answer in this game to anything. You don’t want to think there’s something wrong and start overanalyzing stuff so you just try to keep it simple.”

Scooter Gennett’s two-run homer in the third gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the first when Gennett walked, Chris Carter was hit by a pitch and Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a hard one-hopper that shortstop Jedd Gyorko did not handle.

After the first-inning error, the Cardinals’ defense later stopped two potential rallies. Piscotty made a running, over-the-head catch that saved a run in the sixth and Wong helped Martinez escape the third by making strong plays on two grounders at second base.

“Defense showed up, for sure,” Piscotty said.

Wong reached base three times by walking twice and getting hit by a pitch.

“I’m just tired of people thinking that I’m not good,” said Wong, who has been relegated to backup duty much of the season. “I believe in myself to the fullest.”

Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances.

DOUBLING UP

Martinez induced double-play grounders in the second and third innings to increase his NL-leading total to 32, two shy of the Cardinals’ team record set by John Denny in 1978. Wong backhanded a grounder up the middle and scooped the ball from his glove to Gyorko to start the third-inning double play. “That’s one of the best plays we’ve seen here,” Matheny said. The Brewers popped out into a double play in the fourth.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: SS Aledmys Diaz (right thumb) went 2 for 4 for Double-A Springfield in a rehab start Friday night. … RHP Trevor Rosenthal (shoulder inflammation) will throw to hitters Saturday for the first time since he went on the DL on July 26.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Chase Anderson (8-11, 4.73) has allowed three earned runs in 10 1/3 innings in two starts at Busch Stadium this season.

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (10-8, 4.61) has allowed one home run at home this season but has lost his past two home starts.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Orlando Arcia is finding his balance.

Domingo Santana and Arcia hit back-to-back homers as the Milwaukee Brewers continued their recent road dominance routing the St. Louis Cardinals 12-5 on Thursday night.

Hernan Perez had four hits and three RBI for the Brewers, who won their season-high fifth straight on the road and have won seven of their last eight games.

“You’re always happy to be in a good streak,” Arcia said through an interpreter. “We try to keep it loose, we try to play games before the game just trying to keep everybody loose and just going out there and having fun.”

The Cardinals fell to 30-38 at home and dropped a half game behind the idle New York Mets for the second wild card spot.

Santana and Arcia connected on consecutive pitches in the second inning. It was the seventh time Milwaukee hit back-to-back homers this season and the second time in four days as Chris Carter and Santana did it on Sunday at Pittsburgh.

“I just went out there looking for a pitch I could hit hard, looking for my pitch,” Arcia said. “I was able to get one and hit it hard and get it out.”

Perez’s four hits matched a career high he set Tuesday against Chicago.

“He’s swinging the bat well,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He just is getting in spots and tonight we had some runners on base when he was up. He’s making a lot of hard contact, solid contact.”

Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado has been pleasantly surprised by Perez’s production in the clean-up spot.

“He’s earned his playing time this year and is putting up his numbers,” Maldonado said. “He doesn’t try to do too much. He’s older and he’s learning. He’s doing a good job.”

Arcia, who told reporters a couple of weeks ago that his balance was off in the batter’s box, had three hits and raised his average to .367 over his last 15 games.

“Just a lot of hard work,” Arcia said. “Just try to keep my same approach, up the middle and the other way and its starting to click.”

The bottom three hitters in the Brewers lineup reached eight times and scored six runs.

Maldonado’s two-run home run in the sixth was his first since Aug. 13.

Brewers right-hander Junior Guerra (8-3) needed 74 pitches to get through five innings in his second start back from the disabled list. It was his first career win against St. Louis in three tries.

Jaime Garcia (10-12) struggled for the fourth time in his last five starts, losing a career-high fourth straight decision. He gave up five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings — his third shortest outing of the season.

“As he came out in the first I thought it was going to be one of those days where we were going to see some really good balls on the ground,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “It seemed like some elevated balls got him. He had a good sinker. It just ended up being a rough one.”

Garcia entered the game with an 11-5 career record against the Brewers.

“Well there are some guys who hadn’t faced him very often,” Counsell said. “He left some balls up and that’s how you’ve got to get him. You’ve got to get him with some balls up in the strike zone and we did a good job of it.”

Cardinals reliever Mike Mayers retired just three of the nine batters he faced, giving up six runs. He has given up 15 runs in 3 1/3 innings and has a 40.50 ERA.

Kolten Wong’s two-run home run in the fourth was the Cardinal second baseman’s third in his last six games. Jose Martinez’s first major league hit in the eighth scored Jedd Gyorko.

TRAINING ROOM

Cardinals: LHP Michael Wacha (right shoulder inflammation) and RHP Trevor Rosenthal (right shoulder inflammation) both had successful bullpen sessions Wednesday. . OF Matt Holliday (right thumb fracture) grabbed a bat for the first time Thursday. . IF Aledmys Diaz (right thumb fracture) went 0-for-4 in a rehab start at Double-A Springfield on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Jimmy Nelson (7-13, 4.36 ERA) has made 12 quality starts this season. He is 0-6 with a 7.57 ERA in eight career games against St. Louis.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (13-7, 3.07 ERA) leads all National League pitchers with 30 double plays induced. He is 2-0 with a 0.95 ERA in three starts this season against Milwaukee.

— Associated Press —