ST. LOUIS -- It took catcher Yadier Molina about as long to explain it as it did the St. Louis Cardinals to figure out Milwaukee Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson in the bottom of the first inning on Wednesday.

"We put up good at-bats against him," Molina said. "It seemed like everyone was focused in real good."

Scoring five runs in the inning -- or more than it had scored in each of their last six games -- St. Louis went on to a 7-4 win at Busch Stadium.

Benefiting from the support was starter John Lackey (4-3), who scattered 10 hits in seven innings, giving up three runs. In beating Milwaukee for the second time this year, Lackey walked one and fanned five.

"It was a weird situation," he said. "You want to throw strikes and they were swinging a lot, but you just can't throw it right down the middle. You still have to make quality pitches."

Something that Nelson (2-6) simply couldn't do in the first inning, when the first six batters reached base. Second baseman Kolten Wong doubled, third baseman Matt Carpenter singled and left fielder Matt Holliday walked to fill the bases.

Shortstop Jhonny Peralta lined an RBI single up the middle, followed by a fielding error by third baseman Hector Gomez on what could have been a double-play ball off the bat of left fielder Randal Grichuk.

After a run-scoring single by first baseman Mark Reynolds, Molina and right fielder Jason Heyward tacked on sacrifice flies to cap the uprising.

"It's pretty good when the first eight guys either get a hit or do something situationally to help us score runs," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "It's a great way to start your day and get John support."

Lackey wasn't as dominant as he was in a 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night, when he fanned nine in seven shutout innings. But he made it through the first five innings allowing just one run on a solo homer in the third by right fielder Gerardo Parra.

Carpenter finished St. Louis' scoring in the fourth by stroking a first-pitch, two-run single to right with the bases loaded, upping its lead to 7-1 and giving him a National League-best 23 multi-hit games.

Gomez doubled home a run in the top of the sixth but departed in the bottom of the inning on a scary play. Chasing Heyward's foul popup that found the seats behind third, Gomez was upended by the low railing separating the stands from the field and hit his head on the aisle between sections.

After a delay of close to five minutes, Gomez walked off the field under his own power but was removed for precautionary reasons. Tests for a concussion proved negative and Gomez said he would be ready for the Brewers' next game on Friday night in Minnesota.

"I was laying there and I knew I was all right," said Gomez, who was smiling and laughing with reporters as he was interviewed. "I could have stayed in there, no problem."

First baseman Adam Lind knocked in a run with an infield out in the seventh and delivered an RBI single off closer Trevor Rosenthal in the ninth, allowing Milwaukee (18-36) to bring the tying run to the plate.

But catcher Jonathan Lucroy rolled into a game-ending 5-4-3 double play, giving Rosenthal his 17th save in 18 chances.

The Cardinals (35-18) improved to 22-7 at home, finishing their nine-game homestand at 7-2, and take MLB's best record to Los Angeles for a four-game series with the Dodgers that starts Thursday night.

"We're winning a different way every night," Molina said. "That's good. When you're wanting to win a World Series, that's how you have to do it. We won with pitching (Tuesday) night and it was the offense today."

NOTES: Milwaukee recalled OF Shane Peterson from Triple-A Colorado Springs and started him in the sixth position, playing left field. Peterson hit .320 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 47 games for Colorado Springs.