St. Louis ? At least Bud Smith didn’t lose this one.

Placido Polanco had three hits, including his fourth home run in 10 games, and three RBIs as the St. Louis Cardinals overcame another shaky outing from Smith to beat the San Diego Padres 11-5 Tuesday night.

St. Louis' Eli Marrero reacts after popping up in the second inning of Tuesday's game against San Diego.

The Cardinals, who have a seven-game winning streak against the Padres and are 23-3 against them the last three seasons, took a one-game lead in the NL Central over second-place Cincinnati. St. Louis will go for a series sweep Thursday behind 28-year-old rookie Jason Simontacchi.

The 22-year-old Smith, who no-hit the Padres last September as a rookie, is 0-5 in eight starts this year with an 7.18 ERA and is winless since Sept. 22, 2001. Handed a 6-1 lead after two innings, he failed to get an out in the fifth inning as the Padres closed the gap to one run.

“You get six runs and you don’t get a win, it’s embarrassing,” Smith said. “It’s frustrating. I don’t know what to do.

“I’m out there knowing I need to get outs and I can’t even get five innings in.”

Polanco, Jim Edmonds and Albert Pujols homered on consecutive at-bats off Kevin Jarvis (2-4) with two outs in the second for the Cardinals. St. Louis hit a season-best four homers Monday in a 7-3 victory over the Padres with Edmonds, Pujols, Miguel Cairo and Woody Williams connecting, and they have 10 homers in the last three games.

When Polanco connected in the second, it gave him four homers in 37 at-bats. He hit one in his first 212.

He’s not sure where the power surge is coming from.

“I have no idea,” Polanco said. “I’m definitely seeing the ball better and getting better swings.”

Ron Gant had three hits and three RBIs for the Padres, who are 1-6 on an 11-game trip.

Brewers 12, Pirates 6

Pittsburgh Ruben Quevedo limited Pittsburgh to three runs over 62/3 innings and drove in three runs with a pair of hits.

Quevedo came into the game hitting .038 and had only two career RBIs in three seasons before contributing a two-run single to a five-run Brewers first and another RBI single in the fifth.

Marlins 9, Cubs 7

Miami Cliff Floyd had three hits, including a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning. Sammy Sosa hit his 28th homer for the Cubs, who have lost seven of eight.

Floyd had a pair of singles to go along with his fifth-inning solo shot that broke a 5-all tie. He finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Chicago’s Moises Alou left the game in the sixth with a cramp in his right calf and is listed day-to-day.

Astros 6, Reds 5 (10)

Cincinnati Lance Berkman homered on his first two swings, driving in five runs, and Gregg Zaun hit a 10th-inning sacrifice fly.

Berkman’s two homers put the Astros up 5-1 in the third, but Austin Kearns had a career-high four hits and Adam Dunn hit a solo homer as the Reds tied it at 5 in the sixth inning.

Mets 12, Phillies 6

Philadelphia Jeromy Burnitz had two hits and three RBIs, and Mo Vaughn added two hits and two RBIs. Pedro Astacio (8-3) allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings.

Expos 5, Braves 2

Atlanta Bartolo Colon won in his first start since coming over from Cleveland, and Fernando Tatis hit a go-ahead grand slam. Michael Barrett also homered. Colon gave up two runs in the first one earned and then held the Braves scoreless over his final six innings.

Giants 18, Rockies 5

Denver Damon Minor, Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Reggie Sanders each homered twice to tie a major league record.

The Giants became the 16th team to have three players with multiple homers in a game.

San Francisco had 23 hits and seven homers two in an eight-run first inning .

Dodgers 8, D-backs 0

Phoenix Brian Jordan hit a two-run double and scored on the same play. Paul Lo Duca webt 2-for-3 with a solo homer in the first inning. Cesar Izturis hit a solo shot in the eighth and Eric Karros homered in the ninth.