Allen Craig hit a pair home runs, Carlos Beltran extended his RBI streak to a major league high nine games and Kyle Lohse worked into the eighth inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 9-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.

Matt Holliday had a homer and sacrifice fly and Jon Jay doubled and walked twice with a steal for the Cardinals, who punished a pitching staff that entered the game with a major league-worst 5.37 ERA.

Tyler Colvin and Wilin Rosario homered for the Rockies, who have dropped five of seven. Rosario homered for the third straight game, but Colorado pitchers totaled four wild pitches, eight walks and an error that allowed a run.

Beltran, an NL All-Star game starter picked to participate in the home run derby, leads the league with 63 RBIs. He has 15 RBIs during the streak.

Craig has 13 homers and 43 RBIs in 40 games in a season abbreviated by injury. He was awarded a bonus RBI single by Major League Baseball on Monday after review of a play originally ruled a fielding error on the Marlins’ Jose Reyes at Miami on June 26.

Lohse (8-2) worked seven or more innings for his fifth straight start, striking out five and walking two in 7 1-3 innings. He’s 3-0 with a 2.29 ERA in three starts against the Rockies the last two seasons.

Lohse was tenacious at the plate, too, coaxing an 11-pitch walk out of Josh Outman in the second and singling in the fourth.

Outman threw five of his first 10 pitches in the dirt and finished with two wild pitches and more balls (36) than strikes (34) in an abbreviated three-inning start, exiting with a 9.00 ERA. Outman, who played at suburban Lindbergh High School, gave up two runs and matched his career high with five walks.

The Cardinals took the lead in the first on two walks, two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly by Beltran. Holliday’s 13th homer in the third made it 2-0 before Colvin’s ninth of the season tied it in the fourth.

Craig put the Cardinals ahead for good with a two-run homer in the fifth off Tyler Chatwood (1-1), a drive to straightaway center estimated at 438 feet two pitches after a visit from co-pitching coach Bo McLaughlin. He wrapped up the scoring with a 416-foot homer off Matt Reynolds in the eighth for his career multihomer game.

The Rockies loaded the bases in the fifth on a pair of scratch hits and a walk to Carlos Gonzalez before Lohse got cleanup man Michael Cuddyer to pop out to shallow center on a full count.

Holliday had been 1 for 15 with one RBI the previous six games against his old team after batting .415 (17 for 41) with three homers and six RBIs his first 11 games against Colorado according to STATS LLC.

Colvin is 10 for 25 with two doubles, two triples, two homers and 10 RBIs the last seven games. Rosario, a rookie, leads NL catchers with 14 homers after connecting off Maikel Cleto in the ninth.

— Associated Press —

The bullpen has been a major weakness for the St. Louis Cardinals. This time the relievers slammed the door.

Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte both got big outs Sunday to protect a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had been trying to sweep a series of at least three games in St. Louis for the first time since 1997. It was a nice confidence boost for a unit that entered the game 7-14 with a 4.62 ERA and 13 blown saves in 29 chances.

”It’s been a rough couple days before today, playing a team you’re behind in the standings that’s playing really well,” Boggs said. ”For us to get this last one, and for our bullpen to get some pretty big outs in a tight game, it doesn’t hurt.

”We feel like we’ve got guys that can do the job and we’ll show up tomorrow and expect to do the same thing.”

Allen Craig homered for the second time in three days and All-Star Yadier Molina also connected for the Cardinals, who prevailed in 98-degree heat. Molina has 13 homers, one shy of last year’s season total, and Craig has 11 in just 39 games.

Craig is batting .378 (24 for 74) with five homers and 16 RBIs for his career against Pittsburgh.

”That home run was huge,” manager Mike Matheny said of Craig’s two-run shot in the third. ”He’s dangerous every time he goes up there.”

Motte got the last four outs for his 17th save in 21 chances, and third of the season of more than one inning, to end the Pirates’ four-game winning streak. Motte was the last in a flurry of moves by Matheny that left three players seeing time at two positions, and said he felt no extra pressure to finish things off.

”That’s ridiculous, I’m not out there going, ‘Oh man, don’t screw this up or we’ll get swept,”’ Motte said. ”Those are negative thoughts, you go out there with those and you end up getting yourself hurt.”

Matt Holliday and rookie Shane Robinson had an RBI apiece in a two-run fifth that gave the Cardinals the 5-4 lead. Robinson had been 4 for 32 with runners in scoring position before his first career go-ahead hit.

Michael McKenry’s three-run homer had capped a four-run fourth that put the Pirates ahead for the first time and also gave them a homer in nine straight games. They’ve totaled 15 homers in their longest streak since another nine-gamer in June 2008.

McKenry couldn’t come through in the eighth when he fouled out to first against Boggs with two men on.

”They’ve used a lot of different bullpen guys the last few days, but their three best guys got in there today and they’re as tough as anybody in the league,” McKenry said. ”They’re a special group.”

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle also was inventive with substitutions, using two players at two spots. Pedro Alvarez had two hits and a walk for the Pirates before coming out with apparent leg cramps after singling to start the eighth.

”That’s all it is,” Hurdle said. ”It was tightening up, so we didn’t want to push him.”

Jake Westbrook (7-6) beat the Pirates for the first time in six career decisions, allowing four runs in six innings. Westbrook has won three straight decisions.

Motte got the bullpen’s biggest out when Josh Harrison popped out to shallow center with two on to end the eighth.

The Pirates also had a chance to tie it in the seventh, when Robinson dropped Garrett Jones’ fly ball to center for a two-base error with two outs. Given another chance during the next at-bat, Robinson secured the ball on pinch-hitter Casey McGehee’s routine fly ball against Boggs.

The Pirates ended a 4-3 trip including a four-game split in Philadelphia that left them 1 1/2 games behind the NL Central-leading Reds and 1 1/2 games ahead of the third-place Cardinals.

”We are pleased,” Hurdle said. ”We lost the first two games in Philly, we battled back there, and we came in here and battled.”

The Pirates gave No. 3 hitter and All-Star Andrew McCutchen a day off after the center fielder left Saturday’s game with a strained left wrist from making a diving catch. Cardinals All-Star Carlos Beltran also got a day off as a concession to the persistent heat wave.

Erik Bedard (4-9) threw 100 pitches in 4 2-3 innings and gave up five runs. The lefty has allowed 25 runs in 23 2-3 innings, a 9.51 ERA, in his last five starts away from home since his last road victory May 3 in St. Louis.

In his last three starts in Pittsburgh, Bedard has given up just three runs in 19 innings. He hadn’t been aware of the discrepancy.

”Is it that big of a split? Really?” Bedard said. ”I didn’t know, I haven’t even looked at it.”

— Associated Press —

The Pittsburgh Pirates stuck with Pedro Alvarez, and now it’s paying off.

Alvarez hit a grand slam in the first inning off suddenly scuffling 10-game winner Lance Lynn and Andrew McCutchen had two hits before leaving with a sprained left wrist as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 Saturday for their fourth victory in a row.

”I’m the guy who kept running him out there. Not everybody was on that bandwagon,” manager Clint Hurdle said. ”There weren’t a lot of ‘Pedro for Mayor’ signs being hung up in the ballpark.

”We know this guy’s significant in a lot of different ways and we had to ride this out and see where it took us,” he said.

The Pirates got good news on a player they can’t afford to lose, too. X-rays showed no significant injury to McCutchen, who tweaked his wrist making a diving catch.

”I thought it was awesome and then I thought he was hurt,” pitcher Jeff Karstens said. ”And I was like, ‘I wish he’d have missed it and not dived.

”He’s our best player, there’s no ifs and buts about it. He’s electric, he changes the game.’

Manager Clint Hurdle said McCutchen will probably rest on Sunday.

”I don’t get days off, I’m not trying to get days off,” McCutchen said. ”I get days off in the offseason.”

Jeff Karstens (1-2) thrived in sweltering heat, allowing four hits with seven strikeouts in seven strong innings for his first victory since Aug. 10, 2011 at San Francisco. Karstens changed his pregame routine, running and stretching inside, and then confounded the Cardinals by changing speeds.

Pittsburgh matched its longest winning streak of the year aided by fast starts with 11 first-inning runs the last three games, and stayed one game back of NL Central-leading Cincinnati. It was 99 degrees for the first pitch and the temperature spiked to 103 later in the game.

The Pirates are a season-best seven games above .500 after finishing June 17-10, their most victories in a month since August of 2007. If they complete their first three-game sweep in St. Louis since May 27-29, 1991 on Sunday it’ll mark the franchise’s high water mark since the final game of their 96-66 NL East championship team in 1992. Erik Bedard (4-8, 4.27 ERA) opposes Jake Westbrook (6-6, 3.77).

”We have a very good team,” Alvarez said. ”We’ve just got to keep it going and not change anything.”

Carlos Beltran drove in a run with his 400th career double off Tony Watson in the eighth for St. Louis, one night after getting his 2,000th career hit. Beltran has an eight-game RBI streak, longest in the majors this season, and leads the league with 61 RBIs.

Jared Hughes retired the last four batters in order for his first career save as the Cardinals fell to 17-18 at home.

McCutchen, who leads the Pirates with a .346 average and 51 RBIs with 15 homers, was removed for a pinch hitter in the seventh, four innings after sprawling to catch Beltran’s sinking liner. McCutchen also banged into the center field wall in an unsuccessful bid to rob Tony Cruz of a double to start that inning.

”I missed it, man,” McCutchen said. ”That would have been a sick catch if I caught it.”

Alvarez is 2 for 2 with an astounding 10 RBIs with the bases loaded, the other hit a three-run double to go with two sacrifice flies and a walk. He has 13 RBIs in five games in St. Louis and 15 total against the Cardinals, most of any opponent.

The 25-year-old Alvarez, the second overall draft pick in 2008, batted just .191 in an injury-shortened 2011 and was hitting just .205 after the first two months this year. Though he’s still batting just .226, in June he emerged with seven homers and 20 RBIs.

”I like getting an opportunity to play, no matter where it’s at,” Alvarez said. ”That kind of production, it’s just a coincidence. I never know one of these things until someone brings it up.”

Lynn (10-4) was pummeled for the third straight start, surrendering six runs in five innings. Since combining for 23 strikeouts in consecutive victories earlier this month, the first-year starter who replaced injured Chris Carpenter in the rotation has given up 17 runs on 25 hits in 15 1-3 innings.

The 25-year-old right-hander said his troubles have nothing to do with fatigue.

”This is the best I’ve felt all year, and I’m not getting the job done,” Lynn said. ”You have times when you feel good and things don’t go your way and then some when you feel bad and thing’s seem to go your way.

”It’s part of the game and that’s just the way it is.”

The Pirates homered an NL-leading 39 times in June to tie the franchise record set in 1975, and lead the league with 51 road homers.

Lynn got a pair of groundouts to open the game before running into trouble. McCutchen and Garrett Jones singled to put runners at the corners and Neil Walker walked before Alvarez swatted a full-count fastball into the right-field stands for his second career grand slam and 15th homer overall, tying McCutchen for the team lead.

”You can’t give that guy a chance to do anything in the first inning, and I just didn’t get it done,” Lynn said. ”It cost us the whole game right off the bat.”

Karstens totaled 17 innings in his first four starts of a season interrupted by a shoulder injury. He struggled only in the third when Cruz scored on Jon Jay’s groundout and Matt Holliday added an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-2.

— Associated Press —

In triple-digit heat, the Pittsburgh Pirates played it cool.

Clint Barmes, pinch-hitter Alex Presley and Garrett Jones each homered in a four-run sixth inning that snapped a tie, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 14-5 in a game that began with the temperature at 101 degreees Friday night.

”It’s warm for both teams,” Jones said. ”You’ve just got to suck it up, dunk your head in some cold water and just go for it. You get that good sweat going, you feel good out there, and after the first few innings you kind of forget about how hot it is.”

Andrew McCutchen had four of the Pirates’ season-high 19 hits, the last a three-run homer off Marc Rzepczynski in the ninth. McCutchen also robbed Allen Craig of a third extra-base hit with a running catch near the center field wall in the fifth.

”They’re following McCutchen,” losing pitcher Adam Wainwright said. ”He’s probably going to carry them, he’s a great player.”

The Pirates’ previous high hit total for the season was 14, just two days earlier at Philadelphia in an 11-7 victory.

”We have the capability to do it,” manager Clint Hurdle said. ”The guys connected the dots. We were able to stretch the starter’s pitch count out a little bit and then we were able to pile on a little bit.”

The Pirates have 38 homers this month, one off the franchise record set in 1975, and the run total was the franchise’s best since they also scored 14 on Aug. 31, 2010, at the Chicago Cubs. The three-homer inning was their first since July 22, 2009, against the Brewers and Presley’s pinch shot was the first of his career and the Pirates’ first pinch-hit homer since last August.

”I do like the way our offense has thrown some punches back this month,” Hurdle said.

Carlos Beltran got his 2,000th career hit on an RBI single in the third against Kevin Correia (4-6), also his NL-leading 60th RBI of the season and giving him an RBI in seven consecutive games. Craig hit a three-run homer and doubled. He is a career .394 hitter (26 for 66) against the Pirates with four homers and 14 RBIs.

”I don’t know how to approach or embrace milestones like that,” Beltran said. ”I don’t show a lot of emotions, but inside my heart, God knows I’m happy and pleased with everything I’ve done in this game.”

Pittsburgh won its third straight after entering the night one game back of Cincinnati for the NL Central lead and a half-game ahead of the Cardinals. The Pirates, who have homered in a season-best seven straight games, can match their longest winning streak of the year on Saturday with Jeff Karstens opposing Cardinals 10-game winner Lance Lynn.

The Pirates had a pair of big two-out hits earlier, Walker’s two-run single in the first and a bases-clearing double by Pedro Alvarez that tied it at 5 in the fifth that Hurdle thought ”took the crowd out of it.”

They homered in consecutive at-bats for the second straight game when Barmes and Presley connected to start the sixth and chase Wainwright (6-8).

”Kind of frustrating, very disappointing,” Wainwright said. ”I just didn’t make pitches when I needed to, kind of a mixture of bad luck with some poor pitches.”

Correia was lifted after 90 pitches and five innings, with the temperature down only to 96 degrees. He has surrendered 13 homers in his last 11 starts after giving up just one in his first four outings.

Reliever Brad Lincoln allowed one hit in three scoreless innings and struck out four in a row in the seventh and eighth.

Craig provided much of the Cardinals’ early offense. He doubled and scored on David Freese’s groundout in the second and his 10th homer came the next at-bat after Beltran’s 2,000th hit, had given them a 5-2 cushion.

Wainwright struck out seven, fanning leadoff man Drew Sutton twice. He didn’t allow a homer his previous four outings and pitched seven innings each of his previous three starts.

Two weeks ago, the 35-year-old Beltran became the first switch hitter in major league history to accumulate 300 homers and 300 stolen bases.

— Associated Press —