Heyward Homer Gives Cardinals Win, Cubs Split DH

St. Louis hasn't been playing well lately. Jason Heyward has. Heyward hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

Heyward had two doubles to finish with three or more extra-base hits for the first time since Sept. 26, 2013, with Atlanta. The right fielder is batting .478 (11 for 23) with five RBI in his last six games.

"Just trying to keep it simple, keep it simple," he said. "There are good stretches, bad stretches. You just try to minimize all of them regardless of what happens. Each at-bat, put it behind you and go attack the next one."

St. Louis has won consecutive games following a 2-8 skid and increased its lead in the NL Central to three games over second-place Pittsburgh.

Cubs Split Doubleheader With Pirates

Clint Hurdle insists the Pittsburgh Pirates don't hype up for big games. The manager has preached a steady approach from the moment he took over nearly five years ago. April or September, it doesn't matter.

"It's not like we have a big-series button when it's shared with us that it's a big series," Hurdle said.

Maybe, but his streaking team certainly seems to play like it. Pedro Florimon scored on Starling Marte's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and the Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 5-4 in the first game of a day-night doubleheader Tuesday to inch closer to first-place St. Louis in the NL Central.

Tied 4-4, Florimon entered as a pinch runner after Pedro Alvarez worked a leadoff walk against Justin Grimm (3-5). Florimon stole second and sprinted to third when the throw from catcher Jesus Montero rolled into center field.

The Chicago Cubs threw $155 million at Jon Lester over the winter and tasked the left-hander with becoming the cornerstone of a starting rotation desperately in need of one.

His team's hopes of catching the Pittsburgh Pirates for the top spot in the National League wild-card chase fading, Lester provided a welcome reminder of why he was worth the investment.

Lester dominated a reshuffled Pittsburgh lineup in a 2-1 victory Tuesday night, giving the Cubs a needed doubleheader split while tossing his first complete game for Chicago and the 12th of his career.

Athletics 17, White Sox 6

Josh Reddick would have preferred a fast game Tuesday following a 14-inning marathon the previous night. He wasn't too upset, though, that this Athletics' win took 3 1-2 hours.

Reddick homered and drove in four runs during a 10-run fourth inning to power the Oakland Athletics to a 17-6 rout of the Chicago White Sox.

Reddick had a two-run homer and a two-run single in the big inning. The 17 runs were the most by the A's since they scored 18 on Sept. 11, 2013, against the Minnesota Twins.

Tuesday, September 15 Scoreboard

Pittsburgh 5, Chicago Cubs 4

Chicago Cubs 2, Pittsburgh 1

Baltimore 6, Boston 5 (F/13)

Washington 4, Philadelphia 0

Kansas City 2, Cleveland 0

Atlanta 3, Toronto 2

Miami 9, New York Mets 3

Tampa Bay 6, New York Yankees 3

Texas 6, Houston 5

Oakland 17, Chicago White Sox 6

St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 1 (F/10)

Detroit 5, Minnesota 4

Arizona 6, San Diego 4

Los Angeles Angels 4, Seattle 3

Colorado 5, Los Angeles Dodgers 4 (F/16)

Cincinnati 9, San Francisco 8 (F/10)

Wednesday, September 16 Schedule (All Times Central)

Chicago at Pittsburgh, 6 p.m.

Boston at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Toronto at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Miami at New York, 6:10 p.m.

New York at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Houston at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Oakland at Chicago 7:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Milwaukee, 7:10 p.m.

Detroit at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

San Diego at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Los Angeles at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Colorado at Los Angeles, 9:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.