Cardinals too hot for Braves

ST. LOUIS — Randal Grichuk and Paul DeJong homered to help the St. Louis Cardinals stretch their winning streak to eight games with a 6-5 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.

Carlos Martinez (9-9) tossed six solid innings and also drove in a run for the Cardinals, who moved within half of a game of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.

Brandon Phillips homered for Atlanta, which lost its fifth in a row.

The eight-game run is the longest for St. Louis since the Cardinals won eight in a row on April 28-May 5, 2015.

Grichuk hit his 15th homer of the season in the second inning to tie the game 2-all. He also added a double in a three-run outburst in the fifth. DeJong led off the seventh with his team-high 17th home run.

Martinez gave up three earned runs and seven hits over six innings as he struck out seven and walked one. His run-scoring single in the fifth pushed the lead to 4-2.

Trevor Rosenthal picked up his 11th save in 13 tries this season. He gave up a two-out bases-loaded single to Freddie Freeman in the ninth before striking out Nick Markakis with two runners in scoring position to end the game.

Tyler Lyons chipped in with two innings of scoreless relief. Lucas Sims (0-3), in just his third major league start, surrendered four earned runs and 10 hits over 5 1/3 innings.

Dexter Fowler added two hits for St. Louis, and Kolten Wong extended his hitting streak to seven games with a fifth-inning single.

Atlanta jumped to a 2-0 lead on a bases-loaded single by Kurt Suzuki in the first.

Before the game, the Cardinals’ 1987 National League championship team was honored. Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith threw out the first pitch to outfielder Willie McGee.

Minnesota beat St. Louis in seven games in the 1987 World Series.