ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jason Heyward hit a two-run, tie-breaking double in the seventh inning to key a five-run rally, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 8-5 on Monday night. St. Louis won for the eighth time in nine games and moved five games ahead of the idle Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Central.

Washington, which had won six of its previous eight, fell 6 1/2 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East. New York beat Philadelphia 3-1 on Monday. The Cardinals sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh and erased a 5-3 deficit with five two-out runs. Kolten Wong followed Heyward’s hit with a run-scoring single to push the lead to 8-5.

Stephen Piscotty and Jhonny Peralta had RBI hits off Casey Janssen (1-3) to tie the game. Felipe Rivero gave up the double to Heyward. Kevin Siegrist (6-1) picked up the win despite allowing three runs in the seventh.