Cardinals 10, Reds 2
ST. LOUIS -- A rare power display enabled the St. Louis Cardinals to reduce their magic number for a third consecutive National League Central title.
Belting four homers in a game for the first time since July 11, 2014, St. Louis cruised to a 10-2 rout of Cincinnati on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals' third home sweep of the Reds in the past two seasons.
Second baseman Matt Carpenter clouted a pair of two-run homers, extending his career high to 26, while right fielder Randal Grichuk and center fielder Peter Bourjos cracked solo shots to highlight a 13-hit attack that led to runs in five innings.
Cardinals starter Lance Lynn (12-10) was the beneficiary of the explosion, although his six-inning outing would have stood up nicely with far less support. Bouncing back from three consecutive sub-par outings, Lynn gave up only three hits and no runs, walking none and whiffing four.
Reds starter Brandon Finnegan (1-1) yielded seven hits and six runs over five innings with a walk and seven strikeouts.
In tying a season high by going 40 games over .500, the Cardinals (96-56) pushed their division lead over Pittsburgh to 4 1/2 games, pending the outcome of the Pirates' game in Colorado.
First baseman Joey Votto belted his 29th homer of the year to lead off the seventh, but it wasn't enough to keep the Reds (63-88) from falling into last place in the Central.
St. Louis opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning as Grichuk belted a towering 421-foot solo homer to left-center, his 17th of the year.
Carpenter upped the Cardinals' lead to 3-0 in the third, launching a hanging slider 364 feet over the wall in right with catcher Tony Cruz aboard. Left fielder Matt Holliday made it 4-0 two batters later, ripping a double off the right-center-field wall to score center fielder Tommy Pham.
Carpenter then blasted another two-run homer in the fifth, marking his second two-homer game of the year and his career, for a 6-0 advantage.
NOTES: St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright (left Achilles) threw a 25-pitch simulated game Wednesday, working against teammates Matt Holliday, Matt Adams, Randal Grichuk and Pete Kozma. Wainwright is scheduled to throw again Friday or Saturday and could pitch in a game next week. ... When Cincinnati RHP Josh Smith starts Thursday night against the New York Mets, it will mark the 100th game that a rookie has started for the Reds this year. ... Cardinals LF Matt Holliday started for the first time since being activated from the 15-day DL on Sept. 15. He has gone on the DL twice this year with a right quad injury.