Mark Grudzielanek hit for the cycle in his first four at-bats and Chris Carpenter equaled his career best with 12 strikeouts, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Wednesday for their 11th victory in 12 games.
Jim Edmonds had two RBIs for the Cardinals, who at 14-5 are off to their best start since the 1968 team opened with that record. The first four in the batting order went 7-for-9 in the first four innings against Victor Santos (1-1) while building a 5-0 lead.
"The Cards have had success against everybody this year, not just us," the Brewers' Geoff Jenkins said. "You have to be on top of your game."
Grudzielanek, batting in the No. 1 spot for the second time this year, hit the second leadoff homer of his career to kick-start a three-run first. He singled and scored in the second, had an RBI double in the fourth and tripled off Jorge De La Rosa in the sixth. The homer and triple were his first of the year.
Julian Tavarez, filling in for the injured Jason Isringhausen, struck out the side in the ninth for his first save.
"I know I can't get too comfortable out there," Tavarez said. "It belongs to the big man, Jason, one of the best closers in the game. And I hope he can come back soon."
Carpenter (4-1) allowed three runs on eight hits in 7 2-3 innings and tying his career high for strikeouts set Sept. 4, 2001, against the Yankees.
Braves 8, Mets 4
In New York, Andruw Jones broke out of a big slump with a homer and three hits, and Mike Hampton improved to 3-0 as Atlanta beat New York.
Wilson Betemit hit his first major league home run and Eddie Perez also connected for the Braves, who roughed up former teammate Tom Glavine (1-3) and took two of three from their National League East rivals at Shea Stadium.
Hampton (3-0) pitched seven innings against his old team, giving up home runs to Cliff Floyd and Doug Mientkiewicz. The left-hander improved to 14-1 with a 2.61 ERA since July 4.
Jones scored three times and finished a triple shy of the cycle, snapping a 3-for-47 slump.
Glavine gave up seven runs, 12 hits and three walks in 4 1-3 innings.
Pirates 2, Astros 0
In Pittsburgh, Kip Wells allowed four hits over seven innings and Jose Mesa earned his 300th career save as the Pittsburgh won its first series of the season and handed Houston its fifth consecutive loss.
Jason Bay went 3-for-3 with an RBI single against Andy Pettitte (1-2) and Jack Wilson had an run-scoring triple to help the Pirates beat the left-hander for the first time.
Wells (2-3) was sharp from the start, working out of a two-on, two-out jam in the first by getting Jason Lane to fly out before settling down to allow only two more hits.
Mesa needed just seven pitches in the ninth for his eighth save in as many opportunities, making him the 19th pitcher in major league history with 300 saves.
Mesa has saved each of the Pirates' eight victories -- the first time a major league reliever has gone so deep into the season by doing so. Previously, no pitcher had saved more than five consecutive wins to start a season.
Cubs 8, Reds 7
In Chicago, Derrek Lee had two home runs and six RBIs, and Corey Patterson hit a one-out homer in the ninth inning to give the Chicago a victory over Cincinnati.
Patterson connected off Matt Belisle (1-3) after Neifi Perez pop-ped up a bunt to start the inning.
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