ST. LOUIS _ Winless in his previous six starts, mainly due largely to lack of run support, Lance Lynn picked up win No. 11 Tuesday night as the Cardinals' bats came to life in a 13-4 blowout win over the Cincinnati Reds before a crowd of 40,030 at Busch Stadium.
The Cardinals, who've won four in a row and eight of nine, will continue the series with the Reds on Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. and Thursday at 12:45 p.m.
Lynn (11-7) gave up a solo homer to Reds shortstop Zack Cozart in the first but settled down to limit the Reds to one hit over the next three innings. He allowed three runs, two of them earned, in the fifth before being lifted. He struck out three and did not walk a batter.
Other than a run the Cardinals scored for him in an inning in which they batted for him, Lynn hadn't had a run scored for him when he was on the mound in his last three starts, a stint covering 21 innings.
The Reds struck first on Tuesday, getting a solo homer with one out in the first from shortstop Zack Cozart. It was the 20th homer of the season, helping Cincinnati set a franchise record with six players with 20 or more homers in a season.
The home team came right back, taking advantage of a Cozart throwing error. Matt Carpenter led off with a walk and Tommy Pham reached when Cozart's throw from the shortstop hole pulled Scooter Gennett off the base at second. An out later, the runners moved up on a deep fly ball to right-center field from Jose Martinez. Yadier Molina followed by driving a 3-2 pitch into the left-field corner for a two-run double and a 2-1 Cardinals lead.
The home team added to its lead with a three-run second. After Harrison Bader led off with a single and Carpenter walked with two outs, Tommy Pham plugged the gap in right-center to drive in both runners for a 4-1 lead. Paul DeJong followed with a double to left, stretching the home team's advantage to 5-1.
The Cardinals continued to pour it on in the third. Molina led off with a walk and raced the third when Kolten Wong grounded an opposite-field double past third base. An out later, Randal Grichuk flew out to deep center, upping the Redbirds' lead to 6-1.
In the Cardinals' fourth, Carpenter led off with his third walk of the night and Pham followed with a forceout at second. DeJong blooped a single to left, allowing Pham to advance to third. Martinez followed with a double into the left-field corner to drive in two and push the lead to 8-1.
The Reds got three runs back in the fifth as Scott Schebler led off with a double and Adam Duvall followed with a run-scoring single to right center. An out later, pinch-hitter Patrick Kivlehan tripled to the gap in right center to make it 8-3. Jesse Winker followed with an infield hit as Kivlehan scored on an errant throw to first by Lynn.
The home team got a couple of runs back in the sixth. DeJong led off with his 22nd homer, a shot to straight-away center to make it 9-4. Martinez singled, stole second and scored on a Molina single to right for a 10-4 lead.
After pinch-hitter Greg Garcia led off the seventh with a walk, Carpenter doubled inside the first-base bag for a run-scoring double that stretched the lead to 11-4. A bases-loaded walk to Carson Kelly made it 12-4. Wong followed with a run-scoring single to make it 13-4.
The Cardinals outhit the Reds 14-9, getting three hits, including a homer, and two RBIs from DeJong and two-hit games from Molina (three RBIs), Martinez (two RBIs) and Wong (RBI). Pham had a two-run hit and scored three times while Carpenter walked in his first four plate appearances, a career best, scored twice and drove in a run.
In relief of Lynn, the Cardinals received two innings of scoreless relief from Brett Cecil and single scoreless innings from Zach Duke and Sandy Alcantara.
For the Reds, Duvall (RBI), Schebler and Joey Votto had two-hit games. Cozart hit a solo home run and Patrick Kivlehan came off the bench and delivered with a run-scoring triple.
Right-hander Robert Stephenson (4-5) started and took the loss.
