Albert Pujols homered twice and Miles Mikolas tossed eight effective innings, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Sunday.

Dylan Carlson and Tyler O'Neill also connected for St. Louis, which pushed its NL Central lead over second-place Milwaukee to 1 1/2 games.

Carlson broke a 2-all tie with his eighth homer of the season, a drive to left against Taylor Rogers (1-6) in the eighth.

Mikolas (9-9) permitted two runs and four hits. He struck out six and walked none.

O'Neill tied the game with his seventh homer in the sixth.

St. Louis took an 8-7 lead in the season series. The teams have four games remaining against each other.

Jose Quintana (4-5, 3.37 ERA) will take on Colorado LHP Kyle Freeland (7-8, 4.84 ERA) in the first of a three-game series on Tuesday in St. Louis. Quintana will be making his second start after coming over from Pittsburgh in a trade.