Cards’ bats come alive in thumping of Astros

HOUSTON — Allen Craig homered and had a seasonhigh four hits with three RBIs, and Carlos Beltran and David Freese both added a homer as the St. Louis Cardinals got back on track by rolling to a 13-5 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals managed just seven runs combined in a three-game sweep by the Texas Rangers, the first time they were swept this season.

On Tuesday, they piled up the same number of runs in the fourth inning alone, powered by a threerun triple by Matt Carpenter.

Jake Westbrook (4-2) didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning and yielded four hits and four runs in six innings in his third start since coming off the disabled list.

Houston starter Lucas Harrell (5-8) entered the game with a 1.73 ERA in four starts this month, but things went wrong quickly.

He allowed seven hits and seven runs with four walks in 3 1/3 innings.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Brewers 9, Cubs 3 at Milwaukee: Rickie Weeks homered twice and drove in four runs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs.

Jonathan Lucroy added a two-run double and Juan Francisco also homered for Milwaukee, which has defeated Chicago 19 of the last 21 times at home, including nine in a row.

Nationals 7, Diamondbacks 5 at Washington: Adam LaRoche hit a three-run homer and Gio Gonzalez won for the first time since May 5 as the Washington defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Gonzalez (4-3) went 6 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits. He struck out four and walked one. Rafael Soriano allowed an RBI-single to Miguel Montero in the ninth, but picked up his 20th save.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Yankees 4, Rangers 3 at New York: Ichiro Suzuki homered off Tanner Scheppers with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting the New York Yankees over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night.

Suzuki’s drive to rightcenter was the Yankees’ fourth home run of the game, three coming off Japanese ace Yu Darvish, and it helped New York improve to 4-3 on a homestand that ends after two more games against the Rangers.

Rays 5, Blue Jays 1 at St. Petersburg, Fla.: Matt Moore overcame control problems to allow one run over six innings and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays.

Moore (10-3) tied career highs with six walks and 11 strikeouts en route to his 10th win this season and second straight after a three-game skid. The lefthander gave up four hits.

Mark Buehrle (4-5) gave up four runs, eight hits and four walks in five innings for the Blue Jays, who have lost two in a row since arriving at Tropicana Field after tying a franchise record with 11 consecutive wins.

INTERLEAGUE

Braves 4, Royals 3 at Kansas City, Mo.: Kris Medlen outpitched the Royals’ Ervin Santana over seven innings, Jason Heyward hit a go-ahead homer, and the Atlanta Braves’ bullpen hung on for a victory Tuesday night in the team’s first visit to Kansas City.

Medlen turned the game over to Jordan Walden, who survived a leadoff walk in the eighth inning to get the game into the hands of Craig Kimbrel for his 22nd save.

Marlins 4, Twins 2 at Miami: Marcell Ozuna drove in two runs and Derek Dietrich homered to help the Miami Marlins to a win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in interleague play.

Red Sox 11, Rockies 4 at Boston: Dustin Pedroia drove in four runs and had three of Boston’s seasonhigh 20 hits, and Ryan Dempster took advantage of an early cushion that kept getting bigger for the Red Sox in their victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night.