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CINCINNATI - Four Cardinals have hitting streaks of at least eight games. Another leads the NL in batting average. Overall, theyre the best in the league at hitting in the clutch. Its some formidable offence. And when they play their biggest rival, they really dont need all that much, anyway. Adam Wainwright pitched seven innings for his ninth win, and every Cardinals starter had a hit in a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night that gave St. Louis a four-game lead in the NL Central, its biggest of the season. Yes, its early. But yes, its impressive. "They just get in the habit of grinding at-bats and not giving any away and realizing theres money on the table out there," manager Mike Matheny said. Oh, and the pitchings been as good as it gets, too. Wainwright (9-3) gave up two runs and seven hits as the Cardinals improved the major leagues best record to 40-21. Things are going so well that they try to ignore how theyve started to give themselves a little room atop the division. "The cardinal sin — something we should never do and have done in the past — is look up at the scoreboard and try to figure out where they are," Wainwright said. "Its June. Well look at those things later in the season." On this June night, they had everything going. Slumping Pete Kozma drove in three runs, David Freese and Jon Jay knocked in two apiece, and four Cardinals extended long hitting streaks against a pitching staff in a downturn. Mike Leake (5-3) lasted only five innings for the Reds, who have given up 26 runs while losing their last three games. St. Louis scored six of its runs with two outs, one of their hallmarks this season. "Thats when they usually do their damage," manager Dusty Baker said. "Id like to find out their secret and bottle it." The NL Central rivalry has fallen into a pattern lately — the second-place Reds cant score many runs. Theyve scored two or fewer in their last six games against the Cardinals, the first time thats happened since 1974, the year before the Big Red Machine won its first World Series. St. Louis has won the last four series between the teams and is 5-2 against Cincinnati this season. A day after the Cardinals hit five homers for a 12-8 win over Arizona, they put together five singles in the fourth inning for all the runs theyd really need. The Cardinals came into the game with four players on noteworthy hitting streaks. Three of them extended their streaks during the three-run rally. Carlos Beltran led off with a single that gave him an eight-game streak. Allen Craig pushed his run to 11 games with another hit, completing a 12-pitch at-bat against Leake. Freese extended the longest active streak in the majors with an RBI single, giving him a career-best 17-game streak. Jon Jay and Kozma — in a 3-for-33 rut — followed with singles for a 3-0 lead. When runners were in scoring position, the Cardinals delivered. "I dont really see what we do different other than we get hits when we need them," said Kozma, who tied his career high with the three RBIs. That was plenty for Wainwright, who had only one tough at-bat in the first five innings. Shin-Soo Choo drew a base on balls on his 12th pitch from Wainwright, who has walked only seven batters all season. Jay Bruces RBI single ended Wainwrights shutout in the sixth. The only long hitting streak still in play for St. Louis got extended during a four-run sixth inning off Logan Ondrusek. Jay doubled home another run, Kozma doubled in two more, and Matt Carpenters RBI single made it 7-0 and extended his streak to a career-best 16 games. Yadier Molina doubled and singled, raising the NLs top batting average a point to .352. NOTES: St. Louis is 21-9 on the road, best in the majors. ... The Reds optioned RH Pedro Villarreal back to Triple-A Louisville, opening the way for LH Tony Cingrani to make a start next week for the injured Johnny Cueto. Villarreal struggled in his emergency start on Wednesday, a 12-4 loss to Colorado. ... Switch-hitting INF Henry Rodriguez was called up. ... 2B Brandon Phillips was back in the lineup after missing four games with a bruised left forearm. ... LH Tyler Lyons (2-1) makes his third start for the Cardinals on Saturday against Mat Latos (5-0), who has won his last nine decisions. Its the longest winning streak by a Reds pitcher since reliever Scott Sullivan won 10 straight decisions from 2001-02. Lucas Nogueira Jersey . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. Kyle Lowry Raptors Jersey . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. https://www.raptorsrookiesshop.com/Norman-Powell-City-Edition-Jersey/ . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Malcolm Miller Raptors Jersey . The 17-year-old native of Marystown, N.L., pulled out of Skate Canada International last month in Saint John, N.B., with the same problem. Jodie Meeks Raptors Jersey . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The odds are once again stacked for Joe Gibbs Racing, the team with all four of its drivers in NASCARs playoffs.Throw in Martin Truex Jr., who is aligned with the team, and the numbers point to a Toyota winning the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship for a second consecutive year.Kyle Busch gave Toyota its first Cup title last season, and the first championship for team owner Joe Gibbs in a decade. His bid to repeat begins Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, where the 10-race Chase begins.His top competition could again come from within his own organization.Including Truex, who drives for Furniture Row Racing in an alliance with JGR, the five Toyota drivers have combined for 13 wins through the first 26 races. Theyve led over 4,000 laps and again routed the field in the regular-season finale at Richmond by leading 385 of 407 laps in a Denny Hamlin win.So can anyone beat their effort?Well, Gibbs isnt preparing any championship speeches just yet.Theres so many, I think, well prepared cars. This is going to be a battle, Gibbs said. Theres no way that you can pick a favorite right now. Everybody thats in there is going to have a shot.I think its the greatest reality show going.So who can beat the Toyota contingent?- KEVIN HARVICK: Although he has only two wins this year, Harvick should have been in victory lane a few more times.The 2014 champion has been plagued by recurring pit crew problems, and Stewart-Haas Racing last week made two changes to his team after a slow final stop at Darlington cost him the win.He doesnt have the finishes to show for how good hes been, but Harvicks 1,211 laps led this year trails only Busch (1,244) and Truex (1,234). He also leads the series in top-five finishes (13) and top-10s (21).Theres nothing at all to suggest Harvick wont be in the final four at the Nov. 20 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He made it last year, only to finish second to Busch in his bid to repeat his title.Few are as hell-bent on winning as Harvick, who takes no prisoners and spares no feelings iin his pursuit of a title.dddddddddddd- BRAD KESELOWSKI and JOEY LOGANO: Theres no doubt that Team Penske was deeply disappointed not to win the title the last two years.Keselowski had six wins in 2014 and a strong Chase until a mechanical failure in the first race of the third round put him against the ropes. A pair of top-four finishes wasnt enough to get him into the finale, and he settled for fifth in the final standings.Last year was Loganos year and he seemed unbeatable, particularly when the Chase began. Like Keselowski the year before, he too won six races, including three straight in the Chase.But a feud with Matt Kenseth that wouldnt go away blew up badly at Martinsville Speedway (same place as Keselowskis problem a year earlier) and Kenseth intentionally wrecked Logano in a race Logano seemed poised to win.Logano didnt recover and failed to make the finale as Penske was denied in yet another season it had dominated.- KYLE LARSON: So, Larson may be a stretch, and definitely not a favorite. But its hard to count him out considering the way hes running.Larson has hit a groove this year, especially since winning his Chase-clinching race at Michigan last month. The third-year driver followed it with a third-place finish at Darlington, then hustled from 12th to second on a two-lap overtime sprint Saturday night at Richmond.Its Larsons first appearance in the Chase, but he raced like a participant during his 2014 rookie year. He wasnt eligible that season, but reeled off five consecutive top-six finishes in the first half of the Chase.He hasnt hit career numbers this year in many categories, but his 241 laps led is his best to date.Larsons biggest fight will be advancing through the first three rounds, but should he somehow make it to the final four, he considers Homestead one of his favorite race tracks. Hes not finished lower than 15th there, and was a career-best fifth last season. ' ' '