Mariners put Cards back in Central tie

Rookie James Paxton gave up two hits in six scoreless innings and the Seattle Mariners won 4-1 on Saturday night in St. Louis, dropping the Cardinals into a first-place tie in the National League Central with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who beat the Cubs earlier in the evening.

The Cardinals mustered only three hits, including Matt Carpenter’s leagueleading 50th double in the eighth. Their hitters have been struggling all week and never got going at all against the 24-year-old Paxton (2-0), who limited them to a pair of singles.

Franklin Gutierrez hit a two-run double in the fifth that ended Cardinals rookie Michael Wacha’s scoreless streak at 23 ⅔ innings.

Joey Votto and Shin-Soo Choo each hit two-run homers as the Cincinnati Reds stayed in the mix in the NL Central with a 7-3 win over the host Milwaukee Brewers. Homer Bailey (11-10) allowed three runs over seven innings in winning his career-best sixth straight decision.

In other games of note . . .

Jon Lester pitched eight dominant innings as the American League East-leading Boston Red Sox dealt the New York Yankees’ wild-card hopes another blow with a 5-1 win in Boston.

Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes and Shane Victorino each had two hits as the surging Red Sox won for the 16th time in 19 games and defeated the Yankees for the fifth time in six meetings in just over a week.

Kris Medlen allowed four hits over 7 ⅓ scoreless innings to win his fourth straight start as the host Atlanta Braves topped the San Diego Padres 2-1.