ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer in the eighth and had three RBIs and Paul DeJong had a solo shot to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-4 on Saturday night. St. Louis has won three of four and gained a game on Cincinnati in the NL wild-card race. The Reds, who have lost four of six, started the day percentage points behind San Diego for the second spot. Alex Reyes, who had been closing games for most of the season, pitched the eighth to earn the victory. Reyes (7-8) struck out one and walked one. Giovanny Gallegos picked up his seventh save.
In other major league action:
— The Giants picked up their sixth straight win by blasting the Cubs, 15-4. Tommy La Stella was 3-for-6 with five RBIs and three runs scored, including a three-run blast in a six-run fifth. Brandon Belt also smacked a three-run homer while San Francisco scored five in the second.
— Mookie Betts smacked a tiebreaking, three-run homer with two outs in the fifth inning to send the Dodgers past the Padres, 5-4. Walker Buehler (BYOO-lur) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings for his 14th win, helping Los Angeles stay 2 1/2 games behind the Giants for the NL West lead.
— The Braves’ lead in the NL East is down to 3 ½ games over the Phillies following Atlanta’s 6-4 loss to Miami. The game was tied 3-3 until Bryan De La Cruz and Jesús Sánchez hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning against Richard Rodríguez.
— The Phillies ended their four-game skid as Bryce Harper banged out his 31st homer and Zack Wheeler pitched into the seventh inning of their 6-1 win against Colorado. Wheeler struck out eight and allowed a run and four hits over 6 2/3 innings to win his third consecutive start.
— The Yankees ended their seven-game losing streak by rallying past the Mets, 8-7 on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Aaron Judge tied it with his second homer of the game in the eighth inning, a few batters before Mets infielder Javier Báez committed an error that brought home the go-ahead run.
— Joey Wendle tripled and homered in the Rays’ first win in three games, 7-2 over the Tigers. Kevin Kiermaier doubled and tripled in support of 30-year-old Dietrich Enns, who struck out six in four hitless innings of relief for his first big league victory.
— Travis Shaw slammed a three-run homer in the third inning and delivered the tiebreaking single in the 10th inning to send the Red Sox past the White Sox, 9-8. The AL Central-leading White Sox tied it with five runs in the fourth and took an 8-7 lead in the fifth when Yasmani Grandal (yahs-MAH’-nee grahn-DAHL’) homered.
— George Springer belted a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh and final inning to give the Blue Jays an 11-10 victory over the Orioles in the first game of a doubleheader. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 43rd home run of the season for Toronto, which also received round-trippers from Lourdes Gurriel (gur-ee-EHL’) Jr. and Danny Jansen in winning for the ninth time in 10 games.
— The Jays completed the sweep as Bo Bichette (bih-SHEHT’) and Alejandro Kirk hit a pair of two-run homers in an 11-run seventh that highlighted an 11-2 romp in Baltimore. Marcus Semien and Teoscar Hernández added three-run shots and Toronto tied single-inning team records with 11 runs, 11 hits and four homers.
— Jonah Heim hit a two-run home run with two out in the eighth to cap a five-run rally in the Rangers’ 8-6 win over the Athletics. DJ Peters hit a two-run shot and Yohel Pozo added an RBI double off Sergio Romo before Heim’s homer on an 0-2 pitch from Andrew Chafin.
— The Rangers picked up a 4-2 win over the AL West-leading Astros behind Luis Rengifo’s (rehn-HEE’-fohz) two-run homer and three RBIs. Angels starter Jose Suarez permitted three hits and a run while striking out seven over 5 2/3 innings.
— The Diamondbacks ended a six-game skid as Daulton Varsho provided a two-run homer and a two-run double to lead a 7-3 decision over the Mariners. Humberto Castellanos picked up the win despite serving up Mitch Haniger’s home run two batters into the game.
— Jorge Polanco hit two of Minnesota’s five home runs in a 9-2 drubbing of the Royals. Byron Buxton, Nick Gordon and Max Kepler also went deep to back Michael Pineda (pih-NAY’-dah), who pitched five strong innings in his return to the rotation.
— Bryan Reynolds belted his 23rd home run of the season and drove in three runs as the Pirates surged past the Nationals, 10-7. Reynolds hit a two-run shot to right-center field in the fifth and gave Pittsburgh the lead in the sixth when he worked a bases-loaded walk.
