Albert Pujols homered twice and Miles Mikolas tossed eight strong innings, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Sunday.
Dylan Carlson and Tyler O’Neill also connected for St. Louis, which pushed its NL Central lead over second-place Milwaukee back to 1 1/2 games.
Carlson broke a 2-all tie with his eighth homer of the season, a drive to left against Taylor Rogers (1-6) in the eighth. Pujols hit a solo shot in the second and a three-run drive in the eighth to give him 689 career homers. It was his 63rd career multihomer game, trying him with Willie Mays for fifth all-time.
Mikolas (9-9) permitted two runs and four hits. He struck out six and walked none.
LHP José Quintana (4-5, 3.37 ERA) will take on Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (7-8, 4.84 ERA) in the first of a three-game series on Tuesday in St. Louis, 5:50 with the pregame and the first pitch at 6:45 on KIRX.
RHP Jack Flaherty will make a rehab start at Double-A Springfield on Tuesday. Flaherty, who was placed on the injured list on June 27 with a right shoulder strain, will throw 45-50 pitches in his second rehab start.