Chicago: St. Louis slugger Matt Holliday hit a grand slam to power the majors-leading Cardinals to an 8-5 win at the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday.
The Cardinals moved five games clear atop the National League standings ahead of nearest rivals Pittsburgh, who lost a tight game at American League leaders Kansas City.
Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Angels extended their winning streak to six with a shutout victory over Minnesota, while the New York Mets won at Washington to tighten the gap at the top of the NL East division.
Holliday homered for the first time since May 12, having only returned to the line-up last Friday after missing 31 games because of a strained right quadricep.
Mark Reynolds added a solo shot in the fifth for St. Louis.
Cardinals starter Michael Wacha (11-3) took the win despite giving up five runs in five innings.
Kansas City’s Jarrod Dyson hit a two-run single in the eighth inning to lead the Royals to a 3-1 victory against Pittsburgh.
Dyson scored later in the inning on Alcides Escobar’s single to pad the margin.
Royals closer Greg Holland survived a shaky ninth, allowing a run on four hits and a walk, but struck out Gregory Polanco with the bases loaded to end the game.
Los Angeles’ Matt Shoemaker pitched six scoreless innings to belatedly snare his first home win of the season and steer the Angels past Minnesota 7-0.
Shoemaker (5-7) left with the Angels up 7-0 and finally took a win after eight previous home starts without a victory.
Los Angeles catcher Chris Iannetta had a homer and four RBIs and the Angels overcame three baserunning blunders to maintain their two-game lead over Houston atop the AL West.
New York’s Eric Campbell put the Mets ahead with his two-run single in the seventh inning, leading the visitors past Washington 7-2.
Campbell was called on to pinch hit and drove in Wilmer Flores and Kirk Nieuwenhuis to give New York a 3-2 lead.
Fresh off his dominant display in the All-Star Game a week ago, Mets starter Jacob deGrom (10-6) allowed three hits in six innings and struck out eight in his first win over the division-rival Nationals in four tries.
Atlanta’s Chris Johnson drove in two runs to help the Braves edge the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3.
It was a tough evening for the NL West-leading Dodgers, who have lost consecutive games for the first time in a month, and lost starter Brett Anderson in the third inning with an Achilles tendon injury.
