St. Louis ? By now, the St. Louis Cardinals expect to win them all.

Chris Carpenter pitched seven innings of six-hit ball, and the Cardinals got first-inning homers from Larry Walker and Scott Rolen in beating San Diego, 4-2, Wednesday night for their fifth straight victory.

“Pretty nice, isn’t it?” Carpenter said. “This team doesn’t let up. The most fun I have is sitting around four days and watching them play in between my starts.”

Albert Pujols homered for the third straight game in the eighth and Reggie Sanders had a pair of doubles for the NL Central leaders, who have won 10 of 12 overall. They will go for a sweep of the three-game series against the Padres, in contention for the wild card, today. The Cardinals are 32-6 against San Diego the last six seasons, including 18-2 at home.

“We just couldn’t get that big hit,” Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. “They are a very explosive team over there. There aren’t any weaknesses.”

The Cardinals are 88-44 overall, the best record in the major leagues, with a 151/2-game lead in the division.

“You play with a smile, you play with confidence,” Walker said. “Nobody lets up and you try and win every game, and you usually succeed or come close to doing that every day.”

Jim Edmonds, who homered seven times in his previous six games, was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a walk.

Carpenter (14-5), who missed all of last season with a shoulder injury, tied Matt Morris for the staff lead in victories. He struck out five and walked one, and worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the seventh.

Cubs 2, Expos 1

Scott Rolen of St. Louis watches his home run. The Cardinals scored three runs in the first inning Wednesday and defeated San Diego 4-2 at St. Louis.

Montreal — Nomar Garciaparra scored the go-ahead run on Claudio Vargas’ wild pitch in the 11th inning, and Mark Grudzielanek added an RBI single to lead Chicago.

Garciaparra hit a one-out single off Vargas (5-5) in the 11th. Sammy Sosa singled one out later and Ramon Martinez walked to load the bases. Vargas bounced his next pitch in the dirt.

Chicago holds a slim lead in the NL wild-card race.

Astros 9, Reds 3

Cincinnati — Lance Berkman hit a tiebreaking homer in the fifth, Jeff Kent capped a five-run seventh with a grand slam and Houston extended its season-best winning streak to six with a victory over Cincinnati.

In sweeping the three-game series, the Astros hit 10 home runs and scored 28 runs. Houston has won 14 of its last 17.

Braves 7, Phillies 2

Philadelphia — Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones each hit a solo homer, and Jaret Wright pitched six strong innings to lead Atlanta. The Braves swept the two-game series and hold an 81/2-game lead in the NL East.

Wright (14-6) won his third straight start and improved to 12-1 since May 27. He walked none, struck out five and improved to 3-0 this year against the Phillies.

Marlins 5, Mets 4

New York — Paul Lo Duca hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the sixth inning, Mike Lowell homered and the Marlins won their sixth straight game.

Florida won for the ninth time in 11 games to move seven games over .500 for the first time since June 23 and remain three games behind the front-running Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race.

Pirates 5, Brewers 2 10 innings

Milwaukee — Ty Wigginton’s two-out infield single drove home the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th.

After Craig Wilson hit a two-out pinch-hit homer in the ninth to tie it at 2-all, the Pirates loaded the bases off rookie Jeff Bennett (1-5) in the 10th on Jack Wilson’s leadoff single and walks to Daryle Ward and Rob Mackowiak.

Second baseman Keith Ginter fielded Wigginton’s ground ball up the middle and tried to flip to shortstop Craig Counsell for the forceout but the flip was late and wide, hitting second-base umpire Jim Joyce instead.

Salomon Torres (7-4) picked up the win with a perfect ninth, and Jose Mesa earned his 36th save in 41 chances.

D’backs 3, Dodgers 1

Phoenix — Shea Hillenbrand hit a two-run double, and Brandon Webb pitched six strong innings to lead Arizona.

Greg Aquino earned his 10th save in 10 tries for the D’backs, who have the worst record in the major leagues. Hideo Nomo (3-11) walked five in his eighth straight loss. Webb (6-14), who leads the NL in losses, is 2-0 in his last four starts.

Rockies 4, Giants 1

San Francisco — Jamey Wright pitched seven innings of four-hit ball to win for the first time in seven starts, and Colorado ended an eight-game losing streak.

Clint Barmes had two hits, drove in a run and scored twice for the Rockies. Colorado had lost nine straight road games, one shy of the franchise record. This was the club’s first victory in eight games during its season-long 12-game trip.