Paul Goldschmidt hit two homers, including a grand slam, and drove in a career-high seven runs as the St. Louis Cardinals rolled past the visiting Milwaukee Brewers 10-0 Friday night.
The victory kept the National League Central-leading Cardinals (83-64) four games ahead of the second-place Chicago Cubs (79-68). The Cardinals have gone 39-19 since July 12 and 25-9 since Aug. 7.
The injury-depleted Brewers (78-69) snapped their seven-game winning streak and fell to third place in the division, five games off the pace.
They also fell a game behind the Cubs for the NL's second wild-card spot. The Cubs outslugged the Pittsburgh Pirates 17-8 Friday afternoon.
Goldschmidt has pounded Brewers pitchers this season, hitting eight homers and collecting 20 RBIs in 66 at bats.
He is 12-for-33 in his last 11 games overall, with 11 walks, five doubles, a triple, these two homers, five runs scored and 16 RBIs.
Goldschmidt hit a grand slam in the third inning off Brewers starting pitcher Adrian Houser (6-6), who lasted just three innings in the loss. Then Goldschmidt hit his 31st homer of the season, a three-run shot, in the sixth inning off reliever Jimmy Nelson.
That capped the Cardinals' six-run outburst in the sixth. Matt Carpenter hit a sacrifice fly earlier in the inning and Kolten Wong hit a two-run single.
Winning pitcher Adam Wainwright (12-9) allowed just two hits and struck out seven in six scoreless innings. He also contributed to the offense, hitting a double and scoring a run.
Wainwright lowered his career ERA against Milwaukee to 2.45 in 246 innings.
He has won his last three starts and five of his last six decisions. During that winning streak, he has allowed just one run on 12 hits and four walks in 20 innings.
Relievers Ryan Helsley, Dominic Leone and Genesis Cabrera pitched an inning each to complete the 13th Cardinals shutout of the season.
--Field Level Media
Milwaukee | St. Louis | |
Adrian Houser | Player | Adam Wainwright |
Loss | W/L | Win |
3.0 | IP | 6.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 7 |
4 | Hits | 2 |
12.00 | ERA | 0.00 |
Milwaukee | St. Louis | |
Orlando Arcia | Player | Kolten Wong |
1 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .750 |