>>Cardinals Blast Reds
Aledmys Diaz made a vow Monday to the family of childhood friend Jose Fernandez, the late Miami Marlins ace who died in a boating accident early Sunday.
''I told them that every single time I put on the uniform, I would be thinking of him,'' Diaz said. ''And that I would give 100 percent because that's how he played the game.''
Fernandez would have been proud of his longtime buddy on Tuesday night.
Back in the lineup after attending a private ceremony for Fernandez in Florida on Monday, Diaz hit his first career grand slam and the St. Louis Cardinals finished with five home runs in a 12-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
St. Louis remained one game behind San Francisco for the final NL playoff spot, and 1 1/2 games behind the New York Mets.
The Giants routed Colorado 12-3. The Mets, who lead the wild-card standings, won 12-1 at Miami.
Jhonny Peralta had a three-run homer and drove in four runs for the Cardinals, who had lost four of five. Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Matt Adams also homered.
Joey Votto and Scott Schebler went deep for the Reds, who beat St. Louis 15-2 on Monday.
Diaz slammed a 2-1 pitch from Cincinnati starter Robert Stephenson over the left-field wall. The 408-foot drive erased a 2-1 deficit and served as a wake-up call for the Cardinals, who grabbed their first lead since Saturday.
The Cuban-born Diaz pointed to the sky after he crossed home plate and fell into the arms of teammate Yadier Molina. Diaz had tears in his eyes as he came out of the dugout for a curtain call.
Stephenson (2-3) ended up allowing five runs in four innings.
Wainwright (13-9) gave up five runs and 10 hits over 5 2/3 innings.
>>White Sox Beat Rays; Sale Wins 17th
Melky Cabrera and Leury Garcia homered to back Chris Sale and the Chicago White Sox routed the sloppy Tampa Bay Rays 13-6 on Tuesday night.
Sale (17-9) allowed three runs and eight hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings, retiring the last seven batters to match his career high in victories in Chicago's fourth straight win.
Cabrera belted a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and Garcia added a three-run shot in the third. Garcia also tripled when Mikie Mahtook misplayed his liner to center in a two-run second.
Rays starter Alex Cobb (1-2) lasted three innings, allowing eight runs and eight hits in the Rays' fifth straight loss.
Tim Anderson added three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth off Chase Whitley, the 204th allowed by Tampa Bay this season.
Ex-White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez had a two-run single in the second and Curt Casali led off the fourth with a homer for the Rays, who have scored 11 runs in five games.
>>Cubs Beat Pirates
Chris Coghlan hit a three-run triple and John Lackey worked in and out of trouble over five innings, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the reeling Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Tuesday night.
Coghlan's second-inning drive off the wall in right-center against Ryan Vogelsong (3-7) gave the NL Central champions all the offense they would need to win for the seventh time in their last eight games. Chicago improved to 101-56, the club's highest victory total since it won 104 games in 1910.
Dexter Fowler added an RBI double for Chicago. Lackey (11-8) worked around five hits and three walks to win his last regular season start.
Felix Pena recorded the final two outs for his first career save after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run single off Justin Grimm to get the Pirates within two. Pena struck out Sean Rodriguez with the bases loaded to end it.
Vogelsong allowed four runs in five innings and fell to 0-3 with a 9.55 ERA in September.
