Albert Pujols homers twice to help Cardinals knock off Brewers

ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols homered twice and Miles Mikolas tossed eight effective 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 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.

Hunter Renfroe and Rowdy Tellez homered for Milwaukee, which beat St. Louis 3-2 in 10 innings on Saturday night.

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.

The 42-year-old Pujols ranks fourth on the career homer list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696).

Mikolas (9-9) permitted two runs and four hits. He struck out six and walked none.

Mikolas has held opponents to two or fewer earned runs in nine of 13 starts.

Renfroe hit a two-run shot in the second off Mikolas, who then retired the next 10 batters.

O’Neill tied the game with his seventh homer in the sixth.

St. Louis took an 8-7 lead in the season series. The teams have four games remaining against each other.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: 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.

UP NEXT

Brewers: RHP Freddy Peralta (4-2, 4.37 ERA) faces Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Julio Urias (12-6, 2.49 ERA) in the first of a four-game set on Monday in Milwaukee. Peralta will be making his 11th start of the season.

Cardinals: 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. Quintana will be making his second start after coming over from Pittsburgh in a trade.