Pittsburgh 14, St. Louis 5

Pirates 14, Cardinals 5: Clint Barmes, Alex Presley and Garrett Jones homered in a four-run sixth as the visiting Pirates took the opener of a key NL Central showdown.

The contest was tied 5-5 when Barmes and Presley opened the inning with consecutive solo shots off a tiring Adam Wainwright (6-8). Jones capped the scoring with his 10th homer, a two-run blast off reliever Eduardo Sanchez.

Pittsburgh won its third straight and has scored 30 runs in the streak. Andrew McCutchen went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer and four runs scored.

Opening a season-high 10-game homestand, St. Louis dropped its second straight after a five-game win streak. The defeat dropped the Cardinals 1 1/2 games behind the Pirates for second place in the division.

The Cardinals scored four in the third, highlighted by Allen Craig’s 408-foot, three-run homer, to lead 5-2. Pittsburgh tied it in the fifth when Pedro Alvarez cleared the bases with a double into the right-field corner. Alvarez finished with four RBIs after drawing a bases-loaded walk in the eighth.

Kevin Correia (4-6) picked up the win despite allowing five runs in five innings.

Neil Walker’s two-run single gave Pittsburgh the first-inning lead. Carlos Beltran tied it 2-2 with a third-inning RBI single, the 2000th hit of his career. Craig followed with his 10th homer.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Pittsburgh improved to 3-4 this season against St. Louis.  … Barmes was hitting .196 at the time of his tie-breaking homer. … It was 105 degrees at first pitch.

• St. Louis will play their next game at home against Pittsburgh. The Cardinals have a W/L % of .550 after a win and .486 after a loss.
• Pittsburgh will play their next game on the road against St. Louis. The Pirates have a W/L % of .475 after a win and .611 after a loss.