Ricky Nolasco beat the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Miami Marlins won a weekend matchup of worst versus first.

Nolasco allowed one run and three hits in seven innings Sunday to help the Marlins take the rubber game of their three-game series against the Cardinals, 7-2. NL Central leader St. Louis lost a series for the first time since April 26-28 against Pittsburgh.

The Marlins climbed above .300 at 21-47, still baseball’s worst record.

”We didn’t see it,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ”The team we saw is hitting the ball and making good pitches. They have the kind of offense that can make you pay if you make mistakes, and that’s what we saw. Regardless of what their record shows, they’ve got some talent, and they’re going about things the right way right now.”

Miami is 3-3 since slugger Giancarlo Stanton rejoined the lineup after missing 36 games with a strained right hamstring. He had six hits in the series.

”When you have Giancarlo back in the lineup, that’s a whole different team,” Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter said. ”Nothing against the other guys, but you can put him in anybody’s lineup, and that team looks a little bit different. Having him back is a big advantage.”

Miami scored 19 runs in the series against a team with the lowest ERA in the majors.

”We knew they were a great team coming in here,” said Juan Pierre, who had two hits in each of the three games. ”This is a big series win. To beat a team like that definitely gives you confidence.”

The abundance of offense was a refreshing change for Nolasco (4-7), who has endured the worst run support of any pitcher with at least 14 starts. Luxuriating in an early lead, he retired 11 in a row during one stretch.

”It helps a ton,” he said. ”It just changes everything and the way you pitch and your approach.”

Pierre drove in two runs and had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 12 games, while Justin Ruggiano and Placido Polanco each had a two-RBI hit. The Marlins have won eight of the past 14 games, their best stretch this season.

Tyler Lyons (2-3), making his fifth major-league start, lost for the third time in a row after winning his first two decisions. He went 5 1-3 innings and gave up six runs, including four with two out.

”I made some mistakes with guys on base,” Lyons said.

The Cardinals managed only five hits, all singles, with NL batting leader Yadier Molina and Matt Holliday out of the lineup. Both were given a day to rest but pinch-hit in the ninth, and Holliday was called out on strikes against Steve Cishek with the bases loaded to end the game.

Cishek earned his ninth save in 11 chances.

Carlos Beltran went 0 for 4 to end the longest active hitting streak in the majors at 14 games. Carpenter was also hitless and finished 7 for 38 (.184) on the Cardinals’ nine-game trip.

Jon Jay and Matt Adams drove in St. Louis’ runs. Right fielder Stanton made a leaping catch at the fence to rob Adams of an RBI and an extra-base hit in the seventh.

”With that lineup, probably among the top three in the league, you just have to stay focused,” Nolasco said. ”You can’t lose concentration and leave balls over the middle, because they’re just going to start crushing you. I was able to get away with some balls that they hit hard, and we had great defense at the same time, so it worked out.”

The Marlins scored twice in the first. Pierre led off with a single and took third on a double by Stanton. Ruggiano followed with a two-run single.

A bout of wildness against the bottom of the order cost Lyons in the fourth inning. He hit Jeff Mathis, who was batting .128, and then Nolasco walked for the first time this year to load the bases. Pierre followed with a two-out, two-run single for a 4-1 Miami lead.

Pierre increased his RBI total to eight in 222 at-bats this year.

Polanco had three hits starting for the first time in five games after being sidelined by back stiffness. His two-out, two-run double in the fifth made it 6-1.

”To get a win against such a great team and a great lineup, and to play as well as we did, that’s a great day for all of us,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

— Associated Press —

Carlos Beltran homering from each side of the plate Saturday was hardly a shocker, since he had done it 10 times before.

But Lance Lynn’s two-run single? That was unprecedented.

Both contributed offensively as the St. Louis Cardinals survived a slugfest against the lowest-scoring team in the major leagues and beat the Miami Marlins 13-7. Beltran homered twice and tripled, while Lynn (9-1) notched the victory despite allowing a career-high seven runs in five innings.

The Cardinals scored five runs in the first, then found themselves at 6-all in the second before pulling away. Even for the hitters, the game was no fun, Beltran said.

”I felt like I was out there playing defense for four hours,” he said. ”It’s one of those days where you have to grind and try to find a way to stay in the game.”

Manager Mike Matheny agreed.

”It felt like a doubleheader,” he said.

Swinging left-handed, Beltran hit his 15th home run in the second inning and tripled for the first time since May 2012 in the eighth. He hit another home run from the right side in the ninth.

Beltran extended the longest active hitting streak in the NL to 14 games and raised his average to .311.

”I feel great,” he said. ”I’ve been healthy, and good things are happening for me and the team.”

The Cardinals tied a season high with 17 hits. Yadier Molina singled home two runs in their big first inning, and David Freese’s fourth homer in the third inning put them ahead to stay.

It’s the fifth time this season the Cardinals have scored at least nine runs when Lynn has started, and this time he contributed himself, delivering a two-out single off Ryan Webb to make the score 9-6.

Lynn glanced over his shoulder as he stepped to the plate, unsure whether Matheny might call on a pinch-hitter.

”He looked right at me,” Matheny said. ”He wanted to know what the game plan was. I told him to get a hit. Brilliant coaching, huh?”

The single raised Lynn’s lifetime average to .077. He came into the game with five hits and one RBI in 76 career at-bats.

But the right-hander’s pitching performance left him in no mood to smile about his hitting.

”It was a bad day,” he said. ”I was fighting it the whole time. I only had one pitch, the fastball. When I threw it they got hits, and I wasn’t able to get other pitches over for strikes.”

Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer for Miami, his fifth, while Rob Brantly had two hits and three RBIs. But the Marlins never took the lead.

Tom Koehler (0-5) allowed a career-high nine runs in 4 2-3 innings.

”It was really a case of two starters out there having a tough time plowing through the lineups,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

Molina finished with three RBIs and two hits, hiking his NL-leading average to .352. Freese and Daniel Descalso had three hits each.

The Cardinals went 7 for 14 with runners in scoring position, hiking their season average in those situations to .342.

Lynn has received the best run support of any Cardinals starter this season, and they went to work for him right away, loading the bases with one out in the first before Molina singled home their first runs. Freese followed with an RBI single, Descalso doubled home a run, and Freese beat a throw home on a grounder to first.

After Juan Pierre led off Miami’s first with a triple, Ed Lucas and Adeiny Hechavarria had RBI singles, and Brantly hit a two-run single.

Stanton’s homer in the second inning made it 6-all, but Lynn stayed on the mound long enough to get the win – barely.

”It definitely wasn’t one of his better games,” Matheny said. ”The offense gave him a lot of room.”

— Associated Press —

Rookie Jose Fernandez outpitched a rusty Jake Westbrook, and the team with the worst record in the majors beat the team with the best record.

Fernandez had a career-high 10 strikeouts in seven innings Friday, and the Miami Marlins spoiled Westbrook’s return from an elbow injury by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4.

The 20-year-old Fernandez (4-3) became the first pitcher under the age of 21 to strike out 10 or more since Felix Hernandez with Seattle in 2007. Relying heavily on breaking balls, he threw a career-high 107 pitches and allowed three runs, two earned.

”I was looking forward to this start,” Fernandez said. ”They’re a great team. They’ve got great hitters. Everybody knows the Cardinals, one through nine, can create a mess in two seconds.”

Westbrook (2-2), who had been sidelined with elbow inflammation, went five innings in his first game since May 8. He allowed five runs, two of them unearned because of a misplayed grounder by second baseman Matt Carpenter, and his ERA rose to 2.05.

”He wasn’t as sharp as he normally is, but he’s coming back from an injury,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Fernandez settled down after giving up two runs and three hits in the first inning. He had a 1-2-3 third, striking out Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday and Allen Craig.

”He really was in complete control of that game after the first inning,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. ”He set the tone against a great team, a great lineup, and it was fun to watch him. He can pitch.”

Fernandez improved to 4-1 over his past eight starts with a 2.42 ERA. He also singled home a run.

”He did a lot of things right,” Matheny said. ”We knew he was going to be a handful.”

Giancarlo Stanton had three hits, including a two-run double for the Marlins, who won despite going 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position. They’ve won seven of their past 13 games, their best stretch this season.

Beltran singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, but Marlins relievers retired the final five batters. Steve Cishek pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in 10 chances.

Plate umpire Phil Cuzzi reversed himself on a call in the fifth, which led to a Marlins run. When Ed Lucas tried to bunt, Cuzzi initially said the pitch had been fouled. But after Redmond came onto the field and pointed out the blood on Lucas’ hand, Cuzzi ruled he had been hit by the pitch.

”He said, ‘OK, I’ll give it to you.’ I said, ‘Thank you,”’ Redmond said. ”It broke his skin. He took his glove off, and he had a little cut there. It was bleeding, so it wasn’t a tough sell.”

Lucas then scored on Stanton’s double to make it 5-2.

Carpenter mishandled Derek Dietrich’s grounder for an error to start the second inning, and Miami went on to score two unearned runs. Jeff Mathis had an RBI groundout, and Fernandez followed with a two-out run-scoring single for his third RBI this year.

”I keep getting lucky, man,” Fernandez said.

Miami went ahead to stay in the fourth on a single by Dietrich and a run-scoring double by Greg Dobbs. That was one of eight hits off Westbrook.

”I felt good enough to pitch better than that,” Westbrook said. ”Overall my arm felt good. Just came out on the wrong end.”

The Cardinals scored in the first on consecutive RBI singles by Craig and Yadier Molina. The hits came after an error by third baseman Lucas, and one run was unearned.

Jon Jay had a two-out RBI double for the Cardinals in the sixth. David Freese doubled home a run in the eighth.

— Associated Press —

Adam Wainwright used to be a creature of routine leading up to each start.

”Same sleeping shirt the night before,” the St. Louis Cardinals ace said. ”I couldn’t wear blue jeans. I had to wear the color red. Are you kidding me? It was ridiculous. If I didn’t have any of that, or worse, if something was thrown off, then instantly I was thinking, ‘Oh, man, I’m in trouble.’ And that’s ridiculous. It has nothing to do with getting anyone out. I figured that out somewhere along the line.”

With rain falling in the morning and clashing forecasts for the afternoon, Wainwright wasn’t sure whether he’d pitch at all Thursday.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told him about 80 minutes before start time to get ready, so Wainwright shortened his pregame routine and then pitched seven scoreless innings to become the major leagues’ first 10-game winner. In a classic pitching matchup, his 2-1 victory over the New York Mets sent Matt Harvey to his first loss of the season.

”We had two Cy Young candidates going at each other,” said Matt Carpenter, who tripled in the go-ahead run in the third and preserved the lead with a sparkling stop at second base in the ninth.

Some forecasts had predicted up to 3 inches of rain.

”Two days ago, they were talking about we were going to need to build an ark,” Matheny said. ”That’s tough on the starting pitcher. As he’s walking through here an hour-and-a-half before the game, he’s completely out of his routine because he’s hearing conflicting stories of what’s going to happen with weather. But he got his mind together and got into an abbreviated version of his routine and went out and executed.”

After expecting a rain delay, Wainwright did his preparation and warmup – ”kind of a ground routine; it’s not gymnastics, it’s just stretching” – in the clubhouse instead of on the field.

”My whole normal pregame routine was kind of thrown out the window,” he said.

Wainwright (10-3) retired his first 11 batters before David Wright’s single and allowed four hits, struck out six and walked two – including an intentional pass that caused the Mets to pinch hit for Harvey in the seventh. He tied his career best by winning his fifth straight start, dropped his ERA to 2.18 and got his 1,000th strikeout when Wright was called out on a first-inning curveball.

”It wasn’t much fun to be an offensive player today,” Wright said.

Known best in New York for freezing Carlos Beltran with a called third strike to end Game 7 of the 2006 NL championship series, Wainwright had been 0-4 with an 8.46 ERA in four starts against the Mets since his only career win against them, in St. Louis on April 18, 2010.

”I had everybody in the world tell me I had never beat the Mets at their stadium, so it was something I wanted to do,” Wainwright said.

Trevor Rosenthal pitched the eighth, and Edward Mujica allowed a long home run to Marlon Byrd with one out in the ninth. John Buck doubled and took third as Kirk Nieuwenhuis grounded to Carpenter, who made a diving backhand stop as he fell and threw to first for the out.

”When it was hit, I thought he had a good chance of getting a base hit up the middle.” Carpenter said.

Josh Satin fouled off two full-count pitches and swung over a splitter as Mujica remained perfect in 19 save chances.

Harvey (5-1) had given up one run and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and a walk, ending a 14-start unbeaten streak dating to Sept. 12 but lowering his ERA to 2.04.

”He’s as good as you’re going to face in the big leagues,” Carpenter said. ”He’s got electric stuff. ”

Harvey had no-decisions in eight of his previous nine starts, and the Mets have scored just 18 runs while he’s been in the game during his last 10 outings, according to STATS.

”If I go seven zeros, we’re still playing the ballgame.” Harvey said. ”It’s an incredible lineup. You really have to be locked in one through nine.”

St. Louis went ahead in the third when Pete Kozma hit an opposite-field single to right for the first hit of the game and Carpenter tripled past Byrd, who tried for a sprawling catch in right but allowed the ball to bounce past him.

New York’s bullpen gave up a run in the eighth, when Carpenter and Beltran singled off Scott Rice, and Matt Holliday and Allen Craig singled against LaTroy Hawkins.

A day of dazzling defense included Craig’s diving stop at first base in the eighth to rob Omar Quintanilla of a hit, two nifty pickups by Daniel Descalso on slow rollers to third in the seventh and a pair of challenging catches by center fielder John Jay. He ran to the warning track for Lucas Duda’s two-out drive with a runner on second in the fourth and nabbed a wind-blown drive by Jordany Valdespin leading off the sixth.

”Our guys played a flawless game,” Wainwright said.

Next month, Wainwright and Harvey could find themselves in the same clubhouse at Citi Field – on the NL All-Star team.

”That’s a long time from now,” Wainwright said. ”I’ve got to get a lot of different hitters out before I start worrying about All-Star hitters.”

— Associated Press —

Dillon Gee is grateful for the recent spate of bad weather – in more ways than one.

Gee revealed he has tendinitis in his right elbow and was able to make his start Wednesday night because two rainouts last week in Washington pushed his turn back a couple of days.

What a start it was, though.

Gee pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Lucas Duda hit one of three Mets homers and New York scored the most runs allowed by Shelby Miller in his young career for a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

”Luckily, the rainouts came at a great time for me personally,” Gee said.

The right-hander said he’s had tendinitis since spring training and his elbow was checked out by a doctor. Now, it’s just a matter of managing the pain.

David Wright and Marlon Byrd also connected for the Mets, who snapped a three-game skid and improved to 2-6 in June. Duda drove in two runs, including a first-inning single that scored Daniel Murphy from first base.

With prized pitching prospect Zack Wheeler nearing his promotion to the big leagues, Gee (5-6) has done everything possible to protect his spot in the rotation. He has yielded only three earned runs over 21 innings in his past three starts – all wins.

The run of poor weather – the Mets have been postponed six times this season – also might help keep Gee in the rotation for at least another start or two. More rain is forecast for Thursday.

”We’re looking right now at a possibility of going with the sixth starter for a few days,” manager Terry Collins said.

New York needs an extra starter for a makeup doubleheader Tuesday in Atlanta.

A day after being named NL captain for the Home Run Derby during All-Star week at Citi Field, Wright hit a long ball into the center-field seats just to the right of the Big Apple in the sixth.

”I simply didn’t execute,” Miller said. ”A curveball right down the middle to Duda, a fastball right down the middle to Wright. I made mistakes and they capitalized on them.”

The NL Central-leading Cardinals entered with the league’s best batting average at .277 but could get little going against Gee, who is on a three-game run that’s as good as Miller (7-4) has been all season.

Gee scattered six hits and struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings. He gave up a one-out homer in the sixth to Allen Craig – his second in two days against the Mets.

The recent success could not have come at a better time for the crafty Gee, because the Mets plan to call up Wheeler to start one game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. While Collins said everyone would get their turn through the rotation, a pitcher will likely be demoted to the bullpen after that to make room for Wheeler – and it most likely will be Gee or Jeremy Hefner.

”You’ve got to weigh a lot of things, Collins said. ”You’ve got to weigh health. You’re going to weigh who could pitch out of the bullpen, who’s got credentials out of the bullpen. It could be we can’t afford to put somebody in the bullpen, we’re going to need a starter at another time.”

Miller, on the other hand, has solidified a spot in the Cardinals’ rotation with surprising consistency for a 22-year-old. The four runs the Mets scored were the most he’s allowed in 19 big league appearances – 13 starts this season. He had allowed three runs three times this year and his ERA is 2.21, up from 1.91 going into the game.

”There are time that it’s not just selection (of pitches), but execution,” St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. ”Sometimes young pitchers with early success in their careers fall into this. It is a tough league, good hitters – they make adjustments. They call this a game of adjustments for a reason.”

Miller struck out 10 without a walk in six innings.

The Mets did not score against him over 5 2-3 innings on May 15 but were able to go ahead in the first when Wright lined a two-out double to right-center and scored on Murphy’s single.

Running on a pitch to Duda, Murphy, not known for his speed, scored from first when right fielder Carlos Beltran played the line drive down the first base line lackadaisically and made his throw to second base.

”What a great read. He never slowed down,” Byrd said. ”That’s what we need – aggressive.”

With one out in the fourth, Duda homered into the Cardinals’ bullpen in right-center to end a run of eight straight outs by Miller that began after Duda’s RBI single in the first.

Byrd homered off Seth Maness in the seventh.

David Freese went 0 for 4 for the Cardinals, ending his career-best hitting streak at 20 games – longest in the majors this season.

— Associated Press —

Michael Wacha had combed his hair and dressed in a button-down shirt, all ready at his locker not long after a beer shower to celebrate his first major league win.

Just as he did on the mound, the St. Louis rookie got cleaned up quick.

Wacha recovered from a wild start and Allen Craig hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals in a 9-2 victory over the staggering New York Mets on Tuesday night.

”It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Wacha said. ”Hopefully, there’s more to come.”

Matt Holliday had three hits and the NL Central leaders took full advantage of a crucial error by new Mets first baseman Daniel Murphy, who was shifted over from second after slumping Ike Davis got demoted to the minors Sunday.

David Freese extended his career-best hitting streak to 20 games, longest in the majors this season, and Wacha (1-0) even knocked in a run with a groundout for his first RBI.

The 21-year-old righty walked three batters and fell behind 2-0 in a 37-pitch first inning but worked his way through it and soon settled in.

”The first inning was rough,” he said. ”Just didn’t have any command over my pitches. After I got out of the first I just told myself, just flush it out and just forget about it and just go out and attack the hitters the next couple of innings.”

Omar Quintanilla homered for the Mets, who gave up a major league-high seven unearned runs and lost for the seventh time in eight games since a season-best five-game winning streak that included a four-game sweep of the Subway Series against the New York Yankees. They dropped 13 games under .500, their lowest mark of the year.

Jeremy Hefner (1-6) had a 2-1 lead until St. Louis scored five unearned runs in the fifth, capped by Craig’s fifth homer. The outburst began when Jon Jay reached on a leadoff grounder to Murphy, who knocked it down on his backhand but rushed a high, off-balance throw to Hefner covering first.

”It’s a groundball that I should have handled, but I booted it,” Murphy said. ”It’s not my first time playing first base, and it gave them life.”

Pete Kozma doubled and Hefner slammed down the rosin bag after Wacha’s grounder to shortstop tied the score. Matt Carpenter walked, Yadier Molina put the Cardinals ahead with an RBI groundout and Holliday reached on an infield single before Craig drove an 0-1 pitch to left-center for a 6-2 advantage.

At his best in clutch situations, Craig came in batting .400 with runners in scoring position – the same average he had last year.

”You just can’t say it’s a fluke when a guy does what he’s done,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ”It’s for real. He’s just got a knack for getting it done.”

St. Louis, which owns baseball’s best record at 42-22, added two in the seventh after Kirk Nieuwenhuis misplayed a deep fly to right for an error. Holliday had an RBI single and reliever Josh Edgin, just recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, walked Jay with the bases loaded to force in another run.

”Their lineup is a test,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. ”They hit to all fields. They hit to all fields with power. They stay focused pitch after pitch.”

Shane Robinson, who replaced Craig in right field, homered in the ninth off David Aardsma to make it 9-2.

Craig made a painful-looking catch in the third when he fell at the base of the wall, where his neck and the back of his head snapped back and hit the fence.

”I feel all right. Probably going to be a little sore tomorrow, but not a big deal,” Craig said. ”It definitely jarred me a little bit.”

Wacha, drafted 19th overall a year ago out of Texas A&M, was making his third major league start after an impressive outing against Kansas City and a shaky one vs. Arizona.

Pitching on the road for the first time, he gave up a home run to his second batter. Marlon Byrd hit a sacrifice fly and the bases were loaded when Nieuwenhuis hit a grounder up the middle that appeared headed for center field and a two-run single that would have given New York a 4-0 lead.

Kozma, however, was positioned perfectly at shortstop and made a nice play to end the inning.

It was the sort of play that often goes unnoticed, but it stopped the Mets in their tracks. Wacha did not walk another batter and yielded five hits over six solid innings before Randy Choate and Keith Butler finished up.

”He just was out of rhythm and every pitcher goes through it,” Matheny said. ”Some of ’em are able to still end up in the sixth inning.”

New York did not manage a hit after Jordany Valdespin’s leadoff single in the fifth. With Davis sent down, Valdespin is getting an opportunity to play regularly at second base, his natural position.

— Associated Press —

Three Mat Latos starts against St. Louis. Three Cincinnati Reds wins – their only wins against the Cardinals this season.

That’s the record after Latos turned in seven solid innings and the Reds broke out of their slump with a 4-2 win over St. Louis on Saturday night.

”It felt real good,” said Latos, who didn’t get the decision in the Reds’ first win over St. Louis this season. ”Against that lineup, any time you can hold them to two runs or less and not walk anybody is a good day. That’s a great lineup – not tough. Great.”

Devin Mesoraco homered and drove in two runs, and Jay Bruce also homered and turned in one of several eye-catching defensive plays as the Reds snapped a three-game losing streak and scored more than two runs against St. Louis for the first time in the last seven games between the teams.

Latos (6-0), who got the decision in Cincinnati’s last win over St. Louis on April 29, allowed eight hits and two runs with no walks and five strikeouts against a Cardinals team that went into the game leading the National League in hitting. He gave the Reds exactly what they needed.

”That was a very, very, very good ballgame,” manager Dusty Baker said.

St. Louis right fielder Carlos Beltran credited Latos with making adjustments.

”Every time we face Latos, he seems different,” Beltran said, who struck out to end the seventh as the last Cardinals batter to face Latos. ”He mixes it up pretty good. He kept me off balance. When a pitcher can do that most of the time, he is going to be successful.”

Latos got help from several stellar defensive plays, including back-to-back grabs by center fielder Shin-Soo Choo and Bruce of deep drives against the wall in the sixth, and first baseman Joey Votto’s behind-the-back flip to Latos, who caught it barehanded and tagged first base to eliminate Matt Carpenter in the seventh. Latos rated that play and Bruce’s leaping catch of David Freese’s drive to the right field wall in the sixth as even.

”They were both outstanding,” he said. ”I saw Joey out of the corner of my eye. That’s why I barehanded it. I wasn’t sure if Jay was going to catch that ball.”

The Reds, who’d lost five of their last six games against St. Louis, scored four against St. Louis rookie left-hander Tyler Lyons (2-2). He gave up six hits and a walk with two strikeouts in 5 1-3 innings before a sellout crowd of 40,740 at Great American Ball Park.

Jonathan Broxton pitched a scoreless eighth and Aroldis Chapman allowed one hit and hit a batter in the ninth while earning his 16th save.

The score was 2-2 when Derrick Robinson, a rookie outfielder making his first career start in the No. 2 slot in the batting order, led off the sixth with a double down the right-field line. Votto followed with a ringing double to straightaway center field. Robinson scored the go-ahead run, and Votto went to third on shortstop Pete Kozma’s errant throw to the plate.

Votto couldn’t score on Brandon Phillips’ groundout to a drawn-in Kozma or on Bruce’s swinging bunt infield single. Todd Frazier walked to load the bases, and Mesoraco grounded a single through the hole into left field for a 4-2 lead.

The Cardinals used fundamentals to take a 1-0 lead in the second. Yadier Molina lined Latos’ first pitch to right for a double, went to third base on David Freese’s fly out to deep right and scored on Jon Jay’s broken-bat groundout to second.

Bruce tied it in the bottom of the inning with his 10th homer of the season, a 382-foot solo shot into the right-field bullpen on a 1-0 pitch with one out.

Beltran and Allen Craig both extended hitting streaks while giving St. Louis a 2-1 lead in the third.
Beltran extended his to nine games with a one-out double to left-center field and moved to third on Matt Holliday’s groundout to second. Craig hit a slow bouncer up the middle that shortstop Zack Cozart fielded behind second base, but his hurried throw took Votto off the bag, allowing Beltran to score. Craig was credited with an infield hit that gave him a 12-game hitting streak.

Mesoraco tied it 2-2 in the fifth with his third homer of the season and first since May 21, a 382-foot drive into the right-center field seats on a 1-0 pitch from Lyons.

— Associated Press —

Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings for his ninth win, and every Cardinals starter had a hit in a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night that gave St. Louis a four-game lead in the NL Central, its biggest of the season.

Wainwright (9-3) gave up two runs and seven hits as the Cardinals improved the major leagues’ best record to 40-21.

Slumping Pete Kozma drove in three runs, David Freese and Jon Jay knocked in two apiece, and four Cardinals extended long hitting streaks against a pitching staff in a downturn. Mike Leake (5-3) lasted only five innings for the Reds, who have given up 26 runs while losing their last three games.

St. Louis has won the last four series between the teams.

— Associated Press —