Jon Lester allowed one hit while pitching into the seventh inning, Paul Goldschmidt homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 Monday night.
The Reds have dropped five of their last seven games.
Lester (5-6), in his sixth start for St. Louis since being acquired from Washington on July 30, retired 16 consecutive batters after giving up his only hit. The veteran left-hander walked two and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings, earning his fourth straight win after losing his first two starts with the Cardinals.
Giovanny Gallegos pitched the ninth for his third save.
RHP Miles Mikolas (0-1) is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season tonight, 4:45 with the pregame and the first pitch at 5:40 on KIRX.
First place Milwaukee leads second place Cincinnati by 9 1/2, the third place Cardinals are 12 games out.
In the wild card, the Dodgers are the number one team, 12 1/2 ahead of number two Cincinnati, San Diego is a half a game out, the Cardinals are 2 1/2 behind.