Matt Holliday had four hits, including a two-run homer, to help the St. Louis Cardinals take over sole possession of the NL Central with an 11-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals entered the night tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost 5-2 at home to San Diego. St. Louis reduced its magic number for clinching a playoff spot to five with 11 games remaining.

Joe Kelly (9-4) baffled the Rockies as he allowed three hits over five sharp innings before turning a 10-0 lead over to the bullpen. The hard-throwing right-hander has been one of the team’s most consistent pitchers since becoming a permanent member of the rotation in July.

Juan Nicasio (8-8) struggled with his command, lasting just 2 2-3 innings and allowing eight runs, which tied a career high.

Holliday led an 18-hit night by the Cardinals, who had seven players with at least two hits. Holliday finished 4 for 4 with a walk, double and two-run homer against his former team. He drove in three runs and scored twice.

The Cardinals ran away with the game in the third when they sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six times. Daniel Descalso had a two-run triple in the decisive inning, while Holliday added a double and an RBI single.

Colorado’s Michael Cuddyer finished 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI to raise his average to.331, which is tops in the NL.

Kelly hardly seemed intimidated in his first start at Coors Field. He didn’t allow a base runner to reach as far as third base until the fourth inning. He wiggled out of that jam when first baseman Matt Adams corralled Josh Rutledge’s liner.

Once Kelly was out of the game, the Rockies went to work as they scored four runs off reliever Carlos Martinez in the seventh. But the bullpen shut down the Rockies from there, with Kevin Siegrist striking out pinch-hitter Jordan Pacheco to end the game.

Leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter was frequently on base for the Cardinals, with two singles and a hit by pitch. He leads the league hits (187), doubles (51) and multi-hit games (60).

Yadier Molina gave the Cardinals a lead in the first inning with a two-out single to center. Molina is one of the top hitters in the league with runners in scoring position.

Todd Helton nearly tied the game in the bottom half of the first, but Holliday made a leaping catch against the fence in left field.

The 40-year-old Helton announced last weekend his decision to retire after his 17th season with the Rockies. He leaves as the franchise’s leader in virtually every offensive category.

— Associated Press —

Todd Helton began his farewell tour in familiar style – by getting a big hit for the Colorado Rockies.

Helton started his final homestand with a key single in the eighth inning that helped the Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Monday night.

Charlie Blackmon had three hits and drove in three runs for the Rockies, who prevented the Cardinals from taking over sole possession of first place in the NL Central. They remained tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost 2-0 to San Diego.

”We are aware of where we are,” St. Louis outfielder Matt Holliday said.

Matt Carpenter and Matt Adams had two hits each for the Cardinals.

Helton was playing in front of Colorado fans for the first time since he announced his plans to retire at the end of the season, his 17th. He went public Saturday when the Rockies were in Arizona, and Monday afternoon the team held a formal press conference.

Helton talked about his future without baseball during the day, but he was all business during the game.

He received a standing ovation when he came to the plate in the first, and Cardinals starter Lance Lynn stood behind the mound and waited as the crowd saluted Helton.

The first baseman was given a loud ovation in each of his four plate appearances. His night started slow, but he had a big hit during the decisive rally.

Troy Tulowitzki led off with a walk against reliever Trevor Rosenthal (2-4), and one out later Helton singled to center to put runners at the corners. Wilin Rosario singled to give Colorado a 3-2 lead.

”Todd had a huge hit. That was a huge hit in that inning,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. ”I don’t expect anything different. I think he’s going to have a huge homestand.”

Helton was caught in a rundown between third and home for the second out, but Blackmon doubled to right to score Josh Rutledge from first to make it 4-2.

Pinch-hitter Ryan Wheeler’s two-run single off John Axford gave the Rockies a 6-2 cushion.

”I had a pitch that could have been a double play and it turned out to be a flare into right field,” Axford said.

The four-run eighth was a rare misstep by the Cardinals’ bullpen.

”Overall our bullpen has been very, very good,” manager Mike Matheny said. ”They will bounce back.”

Collin McHugh started for Colorado in place of lefty Jorge De La Rosa, who has a sore thumb on his pitching hand that forced him to miss his turn in the rotation. McHugh allowed one run and four hits, with the only damage coming on David Freese’s RBI single in the fifth.

He left after throwing 75 pitches in five innings.

Lynn stuck around longer and got stronger as the game progressed. He scattered four hits through six innings and didn’t let a runner past first after Tulowitzki’s first-inning double before running into trouble in the seventh.

After Lynn retired Helton in a nine-pitch at-bat, Rosario singled and moved to third on Rutledge’s bloop single to right.

Left-hander Kevin Siegrist relieved Lynn, and Blackmon lined an RBI single over the pulled-in infield to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead.

”He throws really hard so I was trying to catch up to a fastball,” Blackmon said. ”I knew that was going to be a tough at-bat, just trying to battle from the start and get a good swing on it.”

The Cardinals tied it in the eighth on Carpenter’s RBI double off Chad Bettis (1-3) that scored pinch-runner Pete Kozma from second.

The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the first on Tulowitzki’s RBI double.

— Associated Press —