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 —

Jake Westbrook was perfect for 16 straight outs, and then he fell apart. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa blamed the umpire.

Starlin Castro and Marlon Byrd had key hits as the Chicago Cubs broke up Westbrook’s perfect game with a four-run sixth inning and beat the new-look Cardinals 6-3 Sunday night to avoid a three-game sweep.

“I felt strong and was making pitches, I just wasn’t able to make any after that,” Westbrook said. “It hurt us, hurt us big-time.”

Apparently, La Russa was peeved about a 2-2 pitch to Carlos Pena that was called a ball en route to a bases-loaded walk that put the Cubs up 2-0. Westbrook thought it was a strike.

“It was one of those situations where if you don’t shut your mouth you get in trouble,” La Russa said. “But we didn’t deserve the runs we gave up, including some of his.

“And I’m not going any farther with that one, so no use to try to dig for it.”

Lance Berkman’s three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth made it interesting for the Cardinals, who completed a disappointing 4-3 homestand against the two worst teams in the NL Central. They trail the first-place Brewers by 2 1/2 games heading into a three-game series in Milwaukee on Monday.

“Two out of three from the Cubs is nothing to sneeze at,” Berkman said. “I think if you want to poo-poo the homestand, one of those games against the Astros we should have won, and it would have been three out of four.”

Alfonso Soriano homered for the second straight game and Ryan Dempster (8-8) pitched six-plus innings for the Cubs, who snapped a five-game losing streak and beat the Cardinals for the second time in seven meetings this season.

“We’ll enjoy it for what it was,” Dempster said. “The bullpen did all the work, man. They made some big pitches in some big situations. It was fun to see them do it.”

Soriano homered off Kyle McClellan, moved to the bullpen after the Cardinals acquired Edwin Jackson last week.

Newly acquired Cardinals shortstop Rafael Furcal got a standing ovation before grounding into a forceout as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, a move that prompted the Cubs to lift Dempster. Ryan Theriot, who lost his starting job because of the trade, had been 6 for 7 in the series before Sean Marshall induced an inning-ending double play with runners on first and third.

Westbrook (9-5) needed only 44 pitches to get through five innings, then labored through 33 pitches in the sixth and left trailing by four. After he retired his first 16 batters, five straight Cubs reached safely with two outs, and Westbrook was done after Chicago batted around.

Westbrook had been 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in his first three starts after the All-Star break.

“When Westbrook keeps the ball down like that, he’s tough,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “You really just hope he starts getting the ball up.”

Castro’s RBI double over center fielder Jon Jay’s head put the Cubs ahead. Pena drew a bases-loaded walk before Byrd finished the rally with a two-run single. Soriano, who hit a three-run homer in the first on Saturday, added a two-run drive for his 17th.

After managing just two hits off Dempster over the first five innings, the Cardinals climbed right back into it in the sixth on Berkman’s league-leading 28th homer to straightaway center.

Carlos Marmol worked the ninth for his 20th save in 27 chances.

Eighth-place hitter Koyie Hill walked on a full count with one out in the sixth for the Cubs’ first baserunner. Dempster’s two-strike sacrifice bunt gave them their first runner in scoring position and Reed Johnson’s sharp single to right with two outs ended the no-hit bid and put runners at the corners.

Daniel Descalso started at shortstop instead of Furcal, fatigued after a day of travel, plus just 6 for 38 for his career against Dempster, and made two exceptional plays early.

Descalso robbed Johnson to start the fourth on a grounder that deflected off third baseman David Freese’s glove, then snared Soriano’s grounder up the middle and made a strong throw to first from the grass to end the fifth.

— Associated Press —

With a young fan present, it was water, not champagne, that drenched Albert Pujols in the St. Louis clubhouse to celebrate his 2,000th hit.

“I think it’s pretty special to have my son (A.J.) come in here with a couple of bottles of water and spray it all over me,” Pujols said. “It’s something he’ll remember hopefully for the rest of his life.”

Edwin Jackson pitched seven innings in his debut with St. Louis, lifting the Cardinals to a 9-2 victory Friday over the Chicago Cubs.

David Freese hit a three-run homer and Ryan Theriot, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the sixth, drove in three runs on two hits.

Pujols stood on second base and waved his helmet in appreciation of the standing ovation by 42,042 fans at Busch Stadium after recording his 2,000th hit. The Cubs waited, giving Pujols his moment.

“I think if they would have kept going, I think a couple of drops would have come out of my eyes,” Pujols said. “To be able to share this moment with them is incredible. Hopefully, I can continue to do it the rest of my career.”

In his 10th-plus season, Pujols is 263rd overall on the major league hit list. He’s the fifth Cardinal to get 2,000 hits and is the 12th-quickest player to 2,000 hits, taking 1,650 games.

Pujols joined Stan Musial (3,630), Lou Brock (2,713), Rogers Hornsby (2,110) and Enos Slaughter (2,063) as the only Cardinals to get 2,000 with the franchise.

“What a great thrill to behold it,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “It’s a great accomplishment this early in his career. I can’t begin to describe it. I’ve tried but he’s just a great, great player.”

According to projections, Pujols will reach 3,000 hits in August 2016.

“That’s a long ways from now,” Pujols said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I don’t like to think about numbers. Hopefully, 3,000 will be here before you know it, but it’s a long way to 3,000 now. It’s a lot of hard work and hopefully one day it’ll all pay off and my next goal will be to be in Cooperstown, but I don’t want to think about it. I want to help this club just win.”

The eighth-inning double down the third-base line off Carlos Marmol capped a 2-for-5 night and drove in a run.

Chicago manager Mike Quade could have walked Pujols as first base was open but he opted not to.

“The place would have gone nuts had we put him on,” Quade said. “I thought it was a hell of a challenge.”

Jackson, a right-hander, was dealt Wednesday in a three-team deal from the Chicago White Sox to the Toronto Blue Jays, then to the Cardinals.

Jackson (8-7) gave up seven hits and two walks. He was won four of his last five decisions and allowed three earned runs in 22 innings, winning his last three starts.

“I just tried to go out there and make a nice debut and get aggressive,” Jackson said. “Hat’s off to everyone.”

The Cardinals have won their last five games against the Cubs. The last time they won five straight over Chicago was in 2000. The loss sank the Cubs, losers of four straight, to 22 games below .500, their low-water mark of the season.

Pujols led off the fourth inning with a double. After Matt Holliday singled, Freese hit a three-run homer into the left-center field bleachers off Matt Garza (4-8) for a 3-1 lead.

“They beat me on one pitch. That’s all it was,” Garza said. “I felt like I had good stuff. He guessed right. You tip your cap. Chalk it up as one of those days and get ready for the next five days.”

St. Louis added its last three runs in the eighth. The final one came on Pujols’ double.

Kyle McClellan made his first appearance since being dropped from the starting rotation with the addition of Jackson. He got one out in the eighth, facing four batters and giving up a run to make it 6-2.

In the first inning, Pujols hit into his major league-leading 23rd double play. It was the 113th double play hit into by the Cardinals, who lead the majors.

— Associated Press —