Cardinal bats pound Cincinnati, extend lead in NL Central

CINCINNATI — Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings for his ninth win, and every Cardinals starter had a hit in a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night that gave St. Louis a four-game lead in the NL Central, its biggest of the season.

Wainwright (9-3) gave up two runs and seven hits as the Cardinals improved the major leagues’ best record to 40-21.

Slumping Pete Kozma drove in three runs, Da- vid Freese and Jon Jay knocked in two apiece, and four Cardinals extended long hitting streaks against a pitching staff in a downturn. Mike Leake (53) lasted only five innings for the Reds, who have given up 26 runs while losing their last three games.

St. Louis has won the last four series between the teams.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Pirates 2, Cubs 0 at Chicago: Francisco Liriano pitched two-hit ball over seven innings and the Pirates beat Chicago for their major league-leading 10th shutout, matching Pittsburgh’s total for all of last season.

Liriano (4-2) walked five, his most since Sept. 1 last year, but struck out eight to help Pittsburgh stop a three-game losing streak. He had lost his previous two starts.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 1 at Toronto: Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run double, Neil Wagner earned his first major league win and Toronto beat Texas.

Melky Cabrera homered, scored twice and drove in two runs to help the Blue Jays win for the ninth time in 13 home games.

Texas batters struck out 13 times against five Blue Jays pitchers as the slumping Rangers lost for the seventh time in 11 games.

Rays 2, Orioles 1 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Chris Archer pitched seven strong innings and Desmond Jennings hit a two-run homer to lead Tampa Bay over Baltimore.

Archer (1-1) limited the Orioles to Manny Machado’s third-inning RBI single and Ryan Flaherty’s fifth-inning double in his second start of the season.

Tigers 7, Indians 5 at Detroit: Justin Verlander pitched seven solid innings, Victor Martinez homered and Detroit beat Cleveland to take a threegame lead over the Indians atop the AL Central.

Martinez and Torii Hunter had three hits each for the Tigers in the opener of this three-game series. Detroit led 5- 0 before Cleveland scored three runs in the fifth off Verlander.

That was all the Indians could manage against the Tigers’ ace. Verlander (84) allowed three runs and seven hits. He walked two and struck out six.

Athletics 4, White Sox 3 at Chicago: Josh Donaldson hit his first career grand slam, Josh Reddick made a homer- saving catch in the ninth inning, and Oakland rallied from a three-run deficit for a victory over Chris Sale and Chicago.