St. Louis 8, San Francisco 2

Cardinals 8, Giants 2: Jake Westbrook won his fourth straight start with six solid innings and Jon Jay had four hits and two RBIs as St. Louis won its seventh straight at home.

Pinch hitter Matt Carpenter capped a three-run sixth inning with a two-run single to make it 5-2, David Freese also drove in two runs and Carlos Beltran hit his 27th home run for the Cardinals, who have won six of their last seven contests and remained 2 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the final National League wild-card spot.

Angel Pagan and red-hot Buster Posey homered for the Giants, who scored 35 runs in a weekend sweep over Colorado at Coors Field and lost for only the third time in their last 10 road games.

Westbrook (11-8) won for the fifth time in his last six home starts. He allowed two runs, seven hits and struck out four.

Matt Cain (10-5) fell to 1-3 in his last eight outings. He yielded five runs, eight hits and struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings.

Pagan drilled the second pitch of the game over the right-center field fence for his seventh homer.

Beltran hit the first pitch in the bottom of the second inning over the right field wall. Four batters later, Rafael Furcal delivered a sharp single up the middle to score Freese.

Posey tied it in the sixth inning with a two-out blast - his 17th - to left-center field. Posey went 2-for-4 and is hitting .458 with seven homers and 27 RBIs since the All-Star break.

Freese broke the 2-2 tie with a sacrifice fly to score Matt Holliday, who led off the sixth with a double and hustled to third on Beltran's lineout to medium center field. With the bases loaded and two out, Carpenter delivered a line drive to left-center to chase Cain with his fourth hit in four at-bats against him.

The Cardinals added three insurance runs in the seventh inning on Freese's infield hit and Jay's two-run single.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Cardinals have won the first four games in a stretch where they play 16 of 19 at home. ... St. Louis has won 13 of its last 17 overall. ... Pagan went 2-for-4 and is 9-for-18 in his last four games. ... Giants RF Hunter Pence was 7-for-14 against Westbrook before going 0-for-3 on Monday. He finished the game 0-for-4 and is 4-for-26 in six games with San Francisco.

• St. Louis will play their next game at home against San Francisco. The Cardinals have a W/L % of .576 after a win and .520 after a loss.
• San Francisco will play their next game on the road against St. Louis. The Giants have a W/L % of .525 after a win and .560 after a loss.