Tommy Edman, Dylan Carlson and Matt Wieters drove in two runs each as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the visiting Milwaukee Brewers 9-1 to earn a doubleheader split Friday.
The Brewers blanked the Cardinals 3-0 in the first game.
Because Game 2 was a makeup game for a COVID-19 postponement in Milwaukee, the Brewers were the designated home team.
With the split, the Cardinals (29-27) remained in the chase for the National League Central's second-place playoff slot. They are two games ahead of the fourth-place Brewers (28-30), who remained barely alive in the wild-card race.
Cardinals starting pitcher Daniel Ponce de Leon (1-3) yielded just one hit, a solo homer by Orlando Arcia, in his six innings.
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Ponce de Leon earned his first victory in 20 major league starts. But he has pitched well lately, allowing five runs on eight hits in 17 innings over his last three outings.
Brewers starting pitcher Josh Lindblom (2-4) worked just 2 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on four hits.
In the fifth inning, the Cardinals broke the game open against relievers Drew Rasmussen and Eric Lauer. Edman followed Kolten Wong's leadoff single with a two-run homer.
Carpenter reached on an infield single and Dexter Fowler and DeJong drew walks. Carlson ripped a two-run double, and Wieters followed with a two-run single to put the Cardinals up 9-0.
Brent Suter, Devin Williams and Josh Hader combined for a seven-inning shutout as the visiting Brewers defeated the Cardinals 3-0 in the first half of their doubleheader.
Suter cruised through the first four innings, allowing just Wong's single in the first inning, Dylan Carlson's third-inning walk and Paul DeJong's single in the fourth.
Williams (4-1) earned the victory for the Brewers by working the fifth and sixth innings and coaxing a double-play grounder in each. Hader closed out the game for his 12th save.
Losing pitcher Jack Flaherty (4-3) allowed three runs on four hits in five innings.
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Flaherty entered the game 2-5 with a 5.71 ERA in 11 career starts against the Brewers. His struggles against them continued as they broke out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning.
Daniel Vogelbach drew a leadoff walk and Keston Hiura lined a single up the middle. Jedd Gyorko advanced the runners with a tapper up the third base line, before Eric Sogard lined a RBI single and Orlando Arcia hit a run-scoring chopper.
Christian Yelich expanded the lead to 3-0 with a solo homer to center field in the third inning.
Flaherty walked Garcia and Yelich to start the fifth inning, but he induced a double-play grounder from Ryan Braun to defuse the threat.
