The St. Louis Cardinals handled their business in a 5-1 win against the Washington Nationals yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Adam Wainwright pitched 7 strong innings and improved his record to 4-0 this month.
Cardinals back up catcher Matt Wieters put St. Louis on top with his first career pinch-hit home run.
The Cardinals picked up a game in the standings over the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers who both lost last (Wednesday) night.
The Redbirds have a 3 game lead in the National League Central with 10 games remaining in the season.
The Kansas City Royals lost 1-0 in 11 innings to the Oakland Athletics.
The game took three hours and nine minutes to play, and was delayed a half hour at the start by rain.
In preseason hockey the St.Louis Blues lost 3-2 to the Washington Capitals.