CHICAGO (AP) — When St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny visited the mound with two out and two on in the seventh inning on Sunday, he had no idea whether he was going to replace starter Adam Wainwright.

“I was good to go either way,” Matheny said. “I needed to look in his eyes and not hear what he says but see how he says it. I’m kind of watching his mannerisms and then I give him a chance to say what he needs to say.”

Matheny liked what he heard (and saw) and returned to the dugout. Wainwright then got Nate Schierholtz to ground out to complete a strong outing.

The right-hander pitched seven scoreless innings and Matt Holliday hit a solo homer to lead the Cardinals to a 1-0 victory and a series win over the Chicago Cubs.

Wainwright (13-5) allowed five hits and walked three during his seven innings to take over the Major League lead in wins. It was a far cry from his previous outing when he allowed six runs (four earned) in 4 2/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays last Tuesday.

“The results usually follow my delivery,” Wainwright said. “When I control my delivery — I told you I was gonna get things under wraps — and get my arm in the right spot, success was following that.

“They hit some balls hard, but we played some great defense and made some pitches when we needed to.”

Matheny had no doubts and said he expected a bounce-back effort before the game.

“I don’t think that’s much of a reach when you’re talking about one of the best pitchers in the game,” the manager said. “He’s been so consistent. When you have those days, I guess that’s a reminder of how hard it is to do what he does at the level that he does it.

“It was a big game for us. We needed it to happen and he did everything he could.”

Kevin Siegrist worked the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth for his 32nd save in 36 chances.

Cubs rookie Kyle Hendricks (1-1) allowed just one run on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings.

“He works quick,” Chicago first baseman Anthony Rizzo said of Hendricks. “The groundballs are nice. The double plays are nice. It’s all we can ask from him really, especially two days now where, both games at home, not good days to pitch at Wrigley. He did a really nice job.”

With the wind blowing out to right field, the conditions seemed ideal for a classic Wrigley Field slugfest — a feeling seemingly confirmed when Holliday, the third batter of the game, lifted a drive to center field that landed in the batter’s eye for a solo homer and a 1-0 Cardinals lead.

But that’s where the score stayed as the starters took control.

The only time Hendricks was close to giving up a run after the first inning came after he was lifted in the seventh inning with a runner on first base and one out. Left-hander Wesley Wright loaded the bases with two out, but got Wainwright to line out softly to first base.

Even though a base hit would have broken the game open, Matheny never considered pinch hitting with Wainwright having only thrown 83 pitches to that point.

“It’s all about pitching at that point,” he said. “We’re having a hard time getting something going offensively and we can roll the dice — we have a live bullpen — but we’ve got one of the best pitchers in the league on the mound. To me, especially with what his pitch count was, I want him going back on the mound.”

When asked how long the list is of pitchers he let hit there, Matheny said: “Very short. Maybe one on that list.”

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — Once again, the Cardinals relied on Matt Adams’ clutch bat.

Adams drove in four runs, A.J. Pierzynski had three hits in his St. Louis debut and the Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 on Saturday to stop a four-game skid.

Adams doubled sharply in the first inning, a one-hopper that bounced past first baseman Anthony Rizzo and into right field to score two runs. Adams’ two-run triple with two outs in the seventh made it 5-2.

“He was our guy today,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “If you look at when we started to gain some traction in our division, it’s when Matt started to go. Not to put the pressure on him, but he was the guy at the time and he’s continued to do that, to step up big for us.”

Helping out Adams was the 37-year-old Pierzynski, who signed with the Cardinals on Saturday, 10 days after he was released by Boston. St. Louis had been looking for a steady presence behind the plate since All-Star catcher Yadier Molina tore a ligament in his right thumb July 9.

Molina had surgery two days later and is expected to miss eight to 12 weeks.

“That was pretty much a cram session for A.J. there,” Matheny said. “He did a nice job coming in, obviously making an impact with the bat, but I felt like he had a nice feel for what Shelby (Miller) was doing.”

Miller returned to the Cardinals’ rotation and pitched effectively into the sixth inning.

The young right-hander began the game with three perfect innings and retired 16 of his first 18 batters. In his first start since being removed from the rotation July 10, Miller allowed two runs and three hits in 5⅔ innings. He had given up at least three runs in his previous five starts.

Randy Choate (2-2) got the last out of the sixth. Trevor Rosenthal worked around two hits in a scoreless ninth, earning his 31st save in 35 tries.

“When you get in a groove and you’re feeling pretty good, in a rhythm, you just keep going,” Miller said. “That’s kind of what I felt like I did today.”

Nate Schierholtz hit a solo shot for the Cubs in the sixth, tying it at 2. It was Schierholtz’s fourth career pinch-hit homer.

Rizzo drove in a run with a groundout in the fourth.

Cubs starter Jake Arrieta settled in after the two-run first inning, allowing just three baserunners the rest of the way. He thwarted Cardinals threats in the fourth and fifth, and a diving catch by left fielder Chris Coughlan helped Arrieta escape the sixth.

“He did it with not his best stuff, but he was still pretty effective,” Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. “That performance was probably indicative of how much he’s grown.”

With Arrieta out of the game, the Cardinals pulled back ahead in the seventh, scoring four runs against reliever James Russell (0-2). Jon Jay hit a leadoff single, advanced on a sacrifice and stole third before scoring the tiebreaking run on Matt Carpenter’s grounder.

Russell’s four earned runs allowed marked his worst outing since July 21, 2012, when he gave up six, also against the Cardinals.

Ryan Sweeney hit a leadoff homer against Pat Neshek in the eighth, his third home run of the season and second this series.

— Associated Press —

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs don’t have the look of a team more interested in draft position than on-field success.

One day after the Central Division cellar-dwellers couldn’t have looked worse in a 13-3 embarrassment against the lowly San Diego Padres, they showed some grit in a come-from-behind, 7-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, who suffered their fourth consecutive loss on Friday.

A persistent wind at their backs, the division rivals treated the largest crowd at Wrigley Field this season to five home runs and 23 hits.

“A good team win,” said manager Rick Renteria, whose club trailed 3-0 before even getting a chance to bat. “The crowd was buzzing all day. It was a pretty neat environment. Obviously, the fans were into it.”

Luis Valbuena hit a decisive two-run homer in the seventh to decide the see-saw affair.

Kevin Siegrist (1-2) hit Anthony Rizzo with a full-count pitch to start the inning. One batter later, Valbuena launched the first pitch into the center-field bleachers, his first homer against a left-hander in 37 at-bats this season.

“I was looking for a fastball, and I got a fastball right there,” Valbuena said. “That’s why I got aggressive.”

“We had the matchups we wanted right there,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “We wanted (a left-hander) in that situation, in that part of the lineup, and a lefty ended up getting him.”

The Cardinals tied the score 5-5 on solo homers by Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday in the fifth inning. Pinch-hitter Oscar Taveras singled to break the tie in the sixth, but the lead was short-lived.

Justin Grimm (3-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Hector Rondon retired the side in the ninth for his 12th save in 15 chances.

Cubs starter Travis Wood did well to survive five innings after a rocky start. He allowed five runs — two earned — and seven hits with one walk.

Wood aided his cause with a solo homer off Joe Kelly in the fourth inning, his third of the season. He became the first Cubs pitcher since Carlos Zambrano (2009) with at least 10 RBIs in a season.

“They fought off a lot of pitches and made me work,” Wood said. “I was only able to go five, but luckily, I was able to keep it close and we were able to pull it out.”

Ryan Sweeney’s three-run homer pulled Chicago even at 3-3 in the second inning. Kelly had not allowed an earned run in 18 1/3 innings against the Cubs before then.

One inning later, Sweeney singled home Valbuena, who had walked, for a 4-3 lead.

Kelly lasted 4 2/3 innings allowing eight hits and two walks.

St. Louis struck first with three unearned three runs in the opening inning, when Wood was forced to throw 32 pitches largely because of two errors behind him.

Carpenter and Holliday singled, then rookie second baseman Arismendy Alcantara threw away a potential double-play grounder that allowed a run to score.

One out later, Jon Jay hit a two-run double, and when left fielder Chris Coghlan allowed the ball to get past him, the batter advanced to third base on the second error of the inning.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb threw 10 pitches off the mound on Tuesday and was unhappy.

“It was horrible,” Cobb said. “I was not looking forward to coming into tonight.”

However, he was very glad he made the start Wednesday night.

Cobb struck out 10 and drove in a run with his first major league hit, leading the Rays to a 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, the Rays’ seventh straight win.

Cobb (6-6) blanked the Cardinals on five hits over seven innings. It was the fourth time this season he has thrown at least seven innings without an earned run. Cobb missed 50 games last season with a concussion after he was hit near the right ear by a line drive off the bat of Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer.

“Tonight was the best I’ve felt on the mound hands down since I’ve come back and even before that,” Cobb said. “When my mechanics are right, all my pitches play off each other.”

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny agreed.

“You could tell right from the top, he had a good split working today,” Matheny said. “The guys had trouble laying off it below the zone. Their timing was right on it and it was just disappearing below the bat. He was locked in with it.”

All three Tampa Bay pitchers were locked in, finishing with 15 strikeouts.

Jake McGee pitched the ninth inning for his ninth save in 10 opportunities.

The Rays have won 25 of their last 36 games and are 13-4 in July. On June 29, they had the worst record in the majors and have passed 11 teams since.

Tampa Bay completed its road trip at 5-0 and its eight-game road winning streak ties the franchise record set twice. The loss was the third straight for the Cardinals.

“We played well. We had a great vibe in the dugout,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.

St. Louis starter Lance Lynn (11-7) had won three straight and was 4-1 in his last five home starts. He struck out seven and gave up six hits in 6 1/3 innings. Lynn walked three, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch but stranded seven runners in the first five innings.

“I threw the ball well, I just gave up a couple too many with the way he was throwing the ball,” Lynn said. “Some nights, you get outpitched.”

Tampa Bay pitchers, hitting eighth, drove in the first runs in both games of the short series. On Tuesday, Rays pitcher Jake Odorizzi drove in the first run with a safety squeeze bunt.

Cobb was not to be outdone.

He picked up his first career hit in eight at-bats when he doubled down the first base line with two outs in the second inning to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead.

“That was the coolest thing I’ve done in my big league career,” Cobb said. “I was kind of secretly hoping it was going to be a 1-0 win.”

In the fourth, Cobb was hit on the right elbow by a fastball.

“Honestly, my initial thought was I had broken my elbow,” Cobb said. “I’d never been hit by a 94 mile an hour (pitch) before. Once I got on first base, it wasn’t hurting. It was like getting hit on your funny bone.”

Maddon was worried.

“I told him I didn’t want to miss his bat,” Maddon quipped. “I had so many different thoughts. He didn’t wince and there no hesitation on his part.”

Tampa Bay made it 2-0 in the seventh with an unearned run. After a one-out single by Desmond Jennings, St. Louis second baseman Kolten Wong mishandled a possible double play grounder to chase Lynn. Randy Choate walked pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer to load the bases. Evan Longoria drove in the run with a sacrifice fly off Seth Maness.

The Rays added a run in the ninth on an RBI single by Guyer.

After the first inning Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo left two packages of crackers for Tampa Bay catcher Jose Molina on home plate. They were from Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina, who is on the disabled list with torn ligaments in his right thumb.

Rays shortstop Yunel Escobar was ejected in the fourth inning. Escobar, who was leading off, vehemently argued with home plate umpire Dan Bellino, who called him out on a 3-2 pitch. Logan Forsythe replaced Escobar and played second base with Ben Zobrist moving to shortstop.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — For a brief second, Tampa Bay right-hander Jake Odorizzi could swear he was at Tropicana Field.

Odorizzi, pitching 33 miles from his hometown of Highland, Illinois, allowed two runs over 5 2/3 innings and Yunel Escobar highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a two-run double to lead the Rays to a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

It was the Rays’ season-high sixth straight win. They have outscored the opposition 36-11 during the run.

Odorizzi, pitching in St. Louis for the first time in his career, had as many as 500 supporters in the crowd of 43,623. The group made plenty of noise for its hometown hero when he left the game.

“It was pretty loud when I came out,” he said. “There were a lot of people standing up. I figured I had to tip my hat to them. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out from my town.”

Evan Longoria added a solo homer in the ninth for Tampa Bay.

St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright, making his first appearance since starting for the NL in the All-Star game, gave up six runs, four earned, in 4 2/3 innings. Wainwright (12-5) was trying to become the first 13-game winner in the NL. He walked four and hit a batter in his second-shortest outing of the season. He allowed seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in a 9-4 loss to San Francisco on May 30.

“That (fifth) inning was a train wreck,” Wainwright said. “It’s hard to explain things weird like that happening. Every now and then, you have a really crazy inning like that.”

Manager Mike Matheny agreed,

“We just couldn’t stop the bleeding,” he said. “That inning, he just couldn’t get through it.”

Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday hit solo home runs for the Cardinals.

But the night belonged to Odorizzi, who gave up five hits, struck out eight and walked three in improving to 4-1 over his last seven starts. He has allowed three earned runs or less in 15 of 20 starts this season. He gave up a leadoff homer to Carpenter on his fifth pitch of the night and then settled down with four successive scoreless innings.

“I was nervous in the first,” he said. “But things got better.”

Odorizzi said his defense supplied the turning point.

After giving up the homer, he walked Kolten Wong. But catcher Jose Molina threw out Wong stealing. Desmond Jennings then made a nice running catch in center field. Odorizzi took over from there giving up two hits over the next four frames.

“He was a little amped early,” manager Joe Maddon said. “But then he started making some great pitches.”

Tampa Bay first baseman James Loney said Odorizzi displayed his character in battling back.

“It just shows you what kind of guy he is,” Loney said.

The Rays won their seventh successive road game, one shy of tying the franchise record.

Odorizzi outduelled Wainwright in a rematch of a June 10 game that the Cardinals won 1-0.

The Rays sent 10 batters to the plate in chasing Wainwright in the fifth. Matt Joyce broke a 1-1 tie with a run-scoring double. Wainwright, who walked three, hit a batter and committed a costly error in the inning, walked Loney one batter later with the bases loaded. Escobar followed with a ground-rule double to push the lead to 5-1.

Odorizzi, in his first major league at-bat, executed a perfect squeeze bunt in the second.

Maddon was ejected in the third inning by home plate umpire Mark Ripperger. Maddon was arguing a called third strike on Ben Zobrist from the dugout. It was Maddon’s fourth ejection of the season and 36th with the Rays.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Maddon said. “Their pitcher started yelling at (our) dugout and I’m yelling back at him and the umpire thinks I’m yelling at the umpire and he kicks me out.”

Wainwright admitted to barking toward the Rays bench. But he said he was ready to continue pitching and was upset that Maddon continued to command Ripperger’s attention.

“It was the first time I ever did that,” Wainwright said. “I was ready to pitch and I thought it was time for us to move on and I said so.”

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Adrian Gonzalez hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning off St. Louis Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal and the Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged the finale of a three-game series with a 4-3 victory on Sunday night.

The Dodgers pulled into a virtual tie for first place with San Francisco in the NL West despite a so-so outing from Clayton Kershaw, whose run of seven straight starts allowing one or fewer runs came to an end. Yasiel Puig did not play after getting hit by a pitch on the left hand a day earlier and the Dodgers finished without Hanley Ramirez, who was taken out in the ninth — also after getting struck on the left hand. X-rays were negative, but he will be examined again in Pittsburgh.

Gonzalez leads the National League with 38 road RBIs. He missed a chance earlier, flying out with the bases loaded to end the fourth. J.P. Howell (2-3) got the last out in the eighth and Kenley Jansen finished for his 28th save in 31 chances.

Rosenthal (1-5) struggled pitching on the third consecutive day after earning saves the first two games. Peter Bourjos’ two-run homer off Kershaw tied it in the sixth.

Kershaw gave up three runs in seven innings, ending an equally impressive streak of winning eight straight starts. He lost his previous four starts in St. Louis, the past two in the NLCS. Manager Don Mattingly said before the game that he had no doubt that bitterness lingered from Game 6 last fall when Kershaw was tagged for seven runs in four innings and the Dodgers were eliminated.

Kershaw was booed before flying out to end the sixth, a byproduct of dueling hit batsmen two innings earlier. Both benches were warned after Carlos Martinez drilled Ramirez in the shoulder and Matt Holliday was plunked by Kershaw leading off the bottom half.

Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier had consecutive two-out RBI singles in the third to put the Dodgers up 3-1.

The highlight of the Dodgers’ fruitless fourth was Kershaw’s first career stolen base — his first attempt, too. Kershaw was running on a 1-1 pitch in the dirt and took second without a play with two outs and they loaded the bases before Gonzalez flied out.

Shelby Miller had made 50 consecutive starts over two seasons before entering in the sixth, and he was taken out after the first two Dodgers reached in the seventh. Coming out of the All-Star break, Miller was moved to the bullpen.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — After stumbling in his first start following three months on the disabled list, Joe Kelly tinkered with his mechanics.

Kelly bounced back with seven strong innings and Matt Adams homered in a four-run first as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 Saturday to send All-Star Zack Greinke to losses in consecutive regular-season starts for the first time in nearly four years.

Kelly (2-1) gave up four hits over seven innings, retiring his last 13 batters as the Cardinals won for the eighth time in 10 games.

Kelly didn’t get a decision on July 11 in his return from a strained left hamstring, when he gave up six runs over three innings during the Cardinals’ 7-6 win at Milwaukee. After winning for the first time since April 5, he wouldn’t detail his changes.

“I did a lot of stuff different, but I’m not going to give it away,” he said. “If you watch the video, you can probably tell.”

Kelly induced 12 groundouts and got out of trouble with double plays in each of the first two innings.

“I was just trying to mix up pitches and hide stuff better,” he said.

St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was impressed with Kelly’s ability to keep the ball down.

“I thought it was one of his better pitching performances,” Matheny said. “There were times when I even thought his changeup was a breaking ball. It has so much depth to it. So his secondary pitches were on.”

The Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez thought Kelly had great pitch location.

“He didn’t throw any balls in the middle of the plate,” he said. “He kept throwing his fastballs right on the corner. There weren’t any pitches to drive.”

Trevor Rosenthal, the Cardinals’ third reliever, got his 30th save in 34 chances when Andre Ethier grounded into a game-ending double play.

Coming off a July 9 defeat at Detroit, Greinke (11-6) walked a season-high five and gave up four runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He had not lost back-to-back starts in the regular season since Sept. 20 and 25, 2010, for Kansas City at Detroit and Cleveland, according to STATS.

Greinke did lose his regular-season finale against Colorado last year and was beaten by Atlanta in his first postseason start.

“Too many mistakes in one inning,” Greinke said. “I’ve been doing that too much lately, getting behind in a game too early. I need to find a way to be better right from the get-go.”

St. Louis improved to 21-10 at home against the Dodgers in the regular season since the start of the 2006. The Cardinals also beat Los Angeles in six games in last year’s NL championship series.

Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday left the game in the fifth, four innings after he was shaken up while diving back into second base on a pickoff attempt. The Cardinals said team doctors determined Holliday did not sustain a concussion.

Dodgers All-Star outfielder Yasiel Puig left in the eighth, five innings after he was hit on the left hand by a Kelly pitch. Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly said Puig got hit, “near the top or on the side a little bit.”

Both players were considered day-to-day.

Matt Carpenter opened the Cardinals’ first with a walk, and Kolten Wong reached on a slow roller when second baseman Dee Gordon threw wide of first, a play ruled a hit and an error that put runners on second and third,

Holliday followed with a two-run single and Adams hit his 12th homer on Greinke’s 16th pitch of the game.

Adams, who has 15 hits in his last 39 at-bats, drilled a line drive over the right-field wall.

“The curveball just popped up in the zone,” Adams said. “When it does that, you know it’s a good one to swing at.”

Greinke said Adams outsmarted him.

“I was just trying to be aggressive and it was the wrong choice,” he said. “Usually, he’s kind of patient early.”

Los Angeles, which has lost five of eight, scored on Hanley Ramirez’s RBI infield single in the third and Carl Crawford’s sacrifice fly against Sam Freeman in the eighth.

The Dodgers have only 12 runs in their last seven games.

“It just tells us that we’ve got to get better,” Mattingly said.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Matt Holliday homered and doubled with three RBIs, and Lance Lynn won his third straight start for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

Kolten Wong had two hits and scored on both of Holliday’s RBI hits for the Cardinals against the team they beat in the NLCS last fall. They have won six of eight and remained a game behind the Brewers for the NL Central lead.

A.J. Ellis had an RBI double for the Dodgers, battling the Giants for the NL West lead. They remained offensively challenged coming out of the All-Star break, totaling 10 runs the last six games.

Holliday’s seventh homer, estimated at 435 feet to straightaway center, came off Dan Haren (8-7).

Lynn (11-6) gave up two runs on four hits in six-plus innings. He struck out nine and worked around four walks, which tied his season high.

Lynn has 44 wins the last three seasons, one behind Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright for most in the league. He bounced back from season worsts of two innings and six earned runs at Los Angeles on June 28 before leaving with a blister.

Haren piled up 99 pitches in 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, and is among the National League leaders with 20 homers allowed. He’s totaled 8 2/3 innings his last two starts and has lost his last three outings overall.

The Dodgers left the bases loaded in the third when Matt Kemp struck out. The Cardinals stranded three in the fourth when Lynn bounced out after an intentional walk to Tony Cruz.

Consecutive doubles by Juan Uribe and Ellis leading off the seventh chased Lynn. Ellis scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to one.

The Dodgers stranded two against Pat Neshek in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal had two strikeouts in a perfect ninth for his 29th save in 33 chances.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The end of a seven-game losing streak lifted the spirits of the Milwaukee Brewers.

An 11-2 win Sunday over the St. Louis Cardinals gave manager Ron Roenicke’s team a one-game lead in the NL Central at the All-Star break. A team that has also had to cope with the death of shortstop Jean Segura’s 9-month-old son now gets a breather for a few days.

With Segura home on bereavement leave, Elian Herrera had a career-best five hits a day after being called up from the minors to take Segura’s roster spot. The offense tied a season high with 19 hits to back a strong seven-inning outing by starter Wily Peralta.

“Somebody had to step up. … That’s huge for us, for everybody. It lets us go into the break like that and still in first place,” said Peralta (10-6), who allowed three hits and struck out five before departing after seven innings because of a minor leg cramp.

Like Segura, Peralta is from the Dominican Republic. The pitcher was heading home for the break, and he was planning to text Roenicke to let him know how Segura was doing.

The morning started with the Brewers organization holding its annual Family Day outing, when players and coaches can bring their children to the ballpark. Players were smiling alongside their sons and daughters on a sunny afternoon, and Roenicke hoped the day would create a diversion from the team’s roughest patch of the season.

All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy said he thought the family time possibly helped the squad.

“But it doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing whenever you’re with your family,” Lucroy said. “It is a business and it is a job we have to perform, but ultimately the goal is to provide for our family, and family is most important.”

Peralta allowed just three singles and gave up his only run after Kolten Wong reached first on a passed ball despite striking out. Wong eventually scored on Matt Adams’ groundout.

Peralta got a defensive boost with a runner on base in the fifth when left fielder Khris Davis made an over-the-shoulder catch on Jon Jay’s fly to the warning track with a man on first.

“I had to step in like an extra gear … just kind of a lucky play,” Davis said. “A big play with the runner on first, he’s probably going to score.”

Davis hit his team-high 15th homer in the bottom of the fifth for a 5-1 lead.

For the Cardinals, a frustrated Carlos Martinez (2-4) allowed four runs in four innings.

Making his seventh career start, Martinez gave up three walks and a balk while also hitting Carlos Gomez with a pitch in the fourth. Gomez then scored on Scooter Gennett’s two-out, two-run double down the left-field line for a 4-1 lead.

Martinez flicked his head back in frustration as he watched the ball take a tricky carom off the side wall on outfielder Matt Holliday.

An inning earlier, Martinez tossed his bat behind his back in the direction of home plate after grounding out, leading umpire Jeff Nelson to raise his arms and stare at the 22-year-old pitcher for a few seconds.

“I tried to throw the bat to the ground. I don’t know if it was emotion,” Martinez said through an interpreter. “I went to the umpire and said I was sorry. It was just frustration.”

Manager Mike Matheny said Martinez was having a tough time “finding anything.”

“He’s trying to harness his emotions a little bit, which will harness his control,” Matheny said. “It was a rough day for him. It’s one of those learning points.”

Milwaukee added three runs off the Cardinals bullpen to stretch the lead to 8-1 in a sixth-inning burst started by Herrera’s double. The Brewers are in first place at the All-Star break for just the fourth time in franchise history.

— Associated Press —

MILWAUKEE (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright knew how tough it was for the Milwaukee Brewers to play Saturday after finding out that shortstop Jean Segura’s 9-month-old son had died.

But Wainwright had to push those thoughts aside as he pitched seven strong innings to lead the Cardinals to a 10-2 win over Milwaukee for a tie atop the NL Central.

The Brewers lost their seventh in a row.

Segura left the team and traveled home to the Dominican Republic, a day after his 9-month-old son died. The Brewers observed a moment of silence for Janniel Segura, and the clubhouse was closed before the game.

The 24-year-old shortstop was put on the bereavement list when he learned after the Brewers’ 7-6 loss to St. Louis on Friday night that his son had died. Manager Ron Roenicke said the boy had been ill.

“When something like that happens, you become a family,” Wainwright said. “Baseball as a whole becomes a family. There’s bigger things than baseball. I understand that he’s going through something that I hope I never, never have to go through. So our hearts and prayers go out to him.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was catcher for the Cardinals when St. Louis pitcher Darryl Kile died of a heart problem on June 22, 2002.

“The extended family in (Milwaukee’s) clubhouse is hurting right along with him,” he said. “You can’t help but take a step back and just prioritize life. Prioritize just how fragile it is. It gives us perspective.”

“When that happened (Kile’s death), we had a lot of guys having a bunch of conversations you typically wouldn’t have inside a clubhouse,” Matheny said.

Wainwright (12-4) gave up two runs and five hits. He has allowed just four earned runs in his last six starts.

Wainwright helped himself with an RBI single and tied Cincinnati’s Alfredo Simon and the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka for the most wins in the majors.

St. Louis trailed Milwaukee by 6 1/2 games on July 1, but Wainwright knows how quickly a team’s fortune can change in a week. In fact, he said that a week ago.

“My quote was `In a week from now, we could be doing a completely different kind of interview,” he said. “It could be what has turned the season around for. And, that’s what’s happened. This game is a funny game of ups and downs. The teams that have the most ups and the least amount of downs end up winning the whole thing.”

Tony Cruz drove in a career-high three runs and Kolten Wong homered for the Cardinals.

“It’s nice to be able to make a little ground,” Matheny said. “It just comes back to playing each game the right way.”

For the Brewers, it was a most difficult day.

“I think everybody in the clubhouse was affected quite a bit,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “I don’t want to make excuses. We knew that we still have a game to play and a job to do, but we did not play well today.”

The Brewers have lost 11 of 12. They had held sole possession of first place since April 9.

Frustrated Brewers star Carlos Gomez struck out swinging in the fifth inning and tried three times without success to break the bat over his leg. He slammed his helmet and tore up his batting gloves.

Jimmy Nelson (1-1) went 4 1/3 innings, giving up eight runs and eight hits. He was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Thursday to make his first start since replacing ineffective Marco Estrada in the rotation.

St. Louis took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. A two-out error by second baseman Scooter Gennett on a grounder set up Cruz’s two-run single.

Wong hit a two-run homer in the second. It was his fifth home run in the last six games since coming back from the disabled list.

Cruz doubled home a run in the third.

— Associated Press —