LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Wacha pitched seven effective innings, Jason Heyward and Kolten Wong drove in two runs each, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-1 on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between the National League’s top two teams.

The Cardinals, who knocked the Dodgers out of the playoffs in each of the previous two seasons, increased their Central Division lead to 6 1-2 games over the idle Pittsburgh Pirates while the Dodgers’ West Division advantage shrunk to 1 1-2 games over the idle San Francisco Giants.

Wacha (8-1) allowed a run and seven hits without walking a batter and had five strikeouts, five days after the Dodgers beat him 5-1 at St. Louis in a game that was delayed more than 2 hours by rain. This was the right-hander’s first road start against the Dodgers, whom he defeated twice in the 2013 NL championship series while shutting them out in 13 2-3 innings.