Kyle Farmer hit his first career grand slam and the Cincinnati Reds rolled past the visiting Washington Nationals 9-2 for their third straight win.

Tyler Stephenson fell a triple short of the cycle and drove in three runs, and Nick Castellanos also homered for the Reds, who began the day six games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the second National League Wild Card spot. The Cardinals won again Sunday, extending their winning streak to 16 games.

Delino DeShields was 2-for-2 with three walks as the Reds (81-75) took three of four to win their first series since Aug. 19-22, when they swept four games from the Miami Marlins.

Tyler Mahle (13-6) pitched six strong innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits while striking out six.

Carter Kieboom returned after missing two games with a sore left forearm and had two of Washington's four hits. Alcides Escobar (0-for-4) saw his 11-game hitting streak end.

Starter Josh Rogers (2-1) gave up three runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings for the Nationals (64-92). He walked four and struck out three.

A walk and a double gave the Nationals second and third with no outs in the third, but Mahle retired the next three hitters, the first two on strikeouts.

Kieboom singled with one out in the Washington fifth, Rogers moved him to second and Kieboom scored on an error by second baseman Jonathan India.

The Reds pulled ahead in the bottom half. India led off with a double and Stephenson followed with his 10th homer of the season, a shot to right. Castellanos, whose walk-off homer won Saturday night's game, followed with a home run to left, his 32nd.

Reds pinch hitter TJ Friedl led off the sixth with a single. Stephenson doubled with one out and Castellanos was intentionally walked. Ryne Harper struck out Eugenio Saurez, but Farmer caught a hanging breaking ball on a 2-2 pitch and homered to left, his 16th of the season.

Jose Barrero added an RBI double in the eighth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Stephenson to make it 9-1, and the Nationals picked up a run on a wild pitch in the ninth.

--Field Level Media