MLB: St. Louis 12, Washington 4

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ST. LOUIS, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- St. Louis' Carlos Beltran blasted two homers Monday and the Cardinals evened their National League Division Series with a 12-4 pounding of Washington.

Beltran supplied a solo shot in the sixth inning and a long, two-run homer in the eighth for the defending world champion Cardinals, who forged a 1-1 tie in their best-of-five NLDS series.

Jon Jay also drove in three runs, while Allen Craig went 3-for-5 with a bases-empty blast as the Cardinals won for the 17th time in 22 meetings with the Nationals at Busch Stadium.

David Descalso also went deep for the Cards, who banged out eight extra-base hits.

Lance Lynn (1-0) earned the win after taking over from starter Jamie Garcia in the third inning despite giving up two runs on three hits in three frames.

Washington's Jordan Zimmerman (0-1) was tagged for five runs on seven hits in a three-inning effort.

Ryan Zimmerman drove in two runs, including a solo homer, and Adam LaRoche also struck a bases-empty shot for the Nationals, who now return home for the remainder of the series.