Goldschmidt homers again as Cardinals sweep Pirates, vault into first place

PITTSBURGH _ At the end of a road trip that has driven them back into the race for the division title, the Cardinals took over from the start.

The Cardinals scored two runs in the first inning, hit two homers in the fourth, and added on in the fifth to pull away for a 6-3 victory against the Pirates on Thursday at PNC Park. The Cardinals completed a four-game sweep of the Pirates in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2004, and they have won 11 of their past 13 games.

The return home to start a series Friday at Busch Stadium in first place in the National League Central, tied with the Cubs, at 55-47.

They went 7-1 on the road trip along the Ohio River.

Birthday boy Jose Martinez got the Cardinals an early lead with an RBI single, and Paul DeJong, a day after hitting three homers, added a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead before the end of the first inning. In the fourth, Paul Goldschmidt hit a leadoff homer. For the first time in his career, he has at least one homer in four consecutive games, and he has homered in five consecutive games against the Pirates.

Kolten Wong added a solo home run later in the fourth, and Dexter Fowler capped the Cardinals' scoring with a two-run homer to dead center in the fifth inning.

Fowler's homer did two things for the Cardinals:

_ Tied the club record for home runs in a single series with 12.

_ Gave them at least one home run on this road trip from every position on the field, except for pitcher.

Miles Mikolas allowed three runs through six innings. He struck out five and walked one. Two of the three runs the Pirates scored on Mikolas came on an out. A sacrifice fly in the third inning, and then on a groundout later in the game. The six innings Mikolas gave the Cardinals on Thursday coupled with the two innings each from John Brebbia and Mike Mayers on Wednesday night helped steady the bullpen.

Andrew Miller, who had pitched in five of the previous seven games, bridged the lead Thursday to closer Carlos Martinez. The Pirates got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning against Martinez before the righthander got a double play to end the game, end the sweep, and end the road trip.