ST. LOUIS (AP) – Call-up Tyler Lyons had a solid outing and Mark Reynolds hit the go-ahead homer in the fifth inning for the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Kansas City Royals for the second straight day, 3-2 on Saturday. Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, who took two of three from the Cardinals at home last month and will be trying to avoid a sweep in the finale.

Matt Carpenter and Jason Heyward each added an RBI for St. Louis, which is a major league-best 41-21 overall and 24-7 at home. The Cardinals used five relievers over the last four innings to hold a one-run lead with Trevor Rosenthal getting the last four outs for his league-leading 21st save in 22 chances.

The Royals’ eighth did not lack for dramatics. Heyward battled the sun to snare Kendrys Morales’ liner while falling on his backside and Rosenthal rallied from a 3-0 count to get Gordon on an infield popup with two on for the third out.