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Jhonny Peralta picked a big time to end his homer drought, and then rookie Stephen Piscotty followed with a timely hit of his own.

Together, they combined for seven RBIs and powered the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday night.

The Cardinals trailed 3-0 in the fourth when Peralta hit a three-run homer into the center field bleachers, and Piscotty followed two pitches later with a blast into the left-center seats. The homer by Peralta, St. Louis' cleanup hitter, was his first since Aug. 1.

St. Louis, a major league-best 97-56, went 41 games over .500 for the first time. The Cardinals have won five straight and hold a four-game lead over Pittsburgh in the NL Central.

Piscotty added a two-run, two-out single off Taylor Jungmann (9-7) in the fifth and a run-scoring single in the seventh. Since being called up July 21, the rookie outfielder is hitting .313 with six homers and leads the Cardinals with 37 RBIs, many of them coming in key spots.

Michael Wacha (17-6) worked five innings and allowed three runs, all in a 28-pitch first inning when he gave up three hits and walked two. Rookie Jason Rogers singled in Milwaukee's first run, and Hernan Perez drove in two with an opposite-field double grounded just fair down the right field line.

Wacha allowed three baserunners and threw 27 pitches in the second before getting Adam Lind to ground out.

Five Cardinals relievers limited the Brewers to three singles over the final four innings.

Jungmann allowed only three homers in his first 16 starts but has served up seven in his past four.

Matt Holliday (quad) is being eased into his return from an eight-week stint on the disabled list. After going 1 for 3 Wednesday in his first start since July 29, Holliday was not in the lineup.

Carlos Martinez (14-7, 3.01) will look to continue his dominant pitching against the Brewers. Martinez has allowed one run in 15 innings against Milwaukee, striking out 17 and giving up six hits.

>>Sale's Only Mistake Propels Yankees

Carlos Beltran lined three-run homer off White Sox ace Chris Sale, leading Michael Pineda and the Yankees past Chicago 3-2 Thursday in their push for a playoff spot.

After a tribute to Yogi Berra in their first home game since the Hall of Famer died, the Yankees closed within three games of idle Toronto in the AL East. New York's magic number for clinching at least a wild-card berth was cut to five.

Pineda (12-8) gave up one run, on Trayce Thompson's homer, in six innings. He improved the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the AL, fanning six without a free pass.

Pineda is 3-0 in his last five starts, a nice recovery after missing a month because of a strained right forearm.

Girardi again went to All-Star setup man Dellin Betances to lock down the seventh. Betances entered with two on and two outs, but walked Melky Cabrera and Thompson to force home a run before striking out Adam LaRoche.

Andrew Miller pitched the ninth for his 35th save in 37 chances, sending Chicago to its third straight loss.

Sale (12-11) fell to 0-4 in his last six starts. A Yankees lineup minus lefties Brian McCann and Brett Gardner got seven hits in seven innings against the lefty. Sale walked one and hit a batter, and both led to Beltran's homer.

Sale struck out eight, moving within two of tying the White Sox record of 269 in a season set by Ed Walsh in 1908. Sale is second in the majors in strikeouts this year, trailing only Clayton Kershaw's 281 for the Dodgers.

Jacoby Ellsbury was hit by a pitch opening the third and stole the 300th base of his career. He was called out for interference when he didn't get out of the way of shortstop Alexei Ramirez on Chase Headley's popup near second base.

Alex Rodriguez then walked, and scored his 2,000th career run on Beltran's homer.

Rookie Carlos Rondon (8-6, 3.78) tries to make up for his only other start vs. the Yankees, when they scored eight runs on eight hits and four walks in three innings against him July 31.

CC Sabathia (5-9, 4.80) is 19-4 vs. the White Sox, matching his win totals over the Tigers and Royals for his most against one opponent.