Cardinals get closer to postseason with win vs. Giants

Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Cardinals used a five-run sixth inning to sweep the San Francisco Giants and get a little closer to making the postseason.

St. Louis wrapped up the weekend sweep with a 9-2 win on Sunday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The National League Central squad led 2-0 after five innings, but were busy on the base paths in the next inning, taking control of the bout.

Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter went 1-for-5 with two RBIs and a home run in the win. Yadier Molina, Harrison Bader, Yairo Munoz and Jose Martinez each had two hits for St. Louis. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas picked up his 17th win of the season, allowing two runs and two hits in seven innings of work.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford smacked his 14th home run of the season in the loss.

Munoz drew first blood for the Cardinals, plating Jedd Gyorko with an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning. Mikolas brought in Bader to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning. Then came the track meet sixth inning.

Bader brought in Patrick Wisdom with an RBI sacrifice bunt. Munoz then plated Molina with an RBI single. Martinez later scored Munoz with an RBI double. Paul DeJong had the final RBI of the inning, plating Tyler O'Neill with another RBI single.

Crawford went yard in the next inning. Carpenter went deep in the bottom of the eighth inning for the final two runs of the game.

The Cardinals now host the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game series starting at 8:15 p.m. on Monday at Busch Stadium. St. Louis ends the season with a series against the division-leading Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago.