Cardinals 5, Pirates 4: Kolten Wong delivered a pinch-hit two-run homer and Matt Holliday knocked in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as host St. Louis took sole possession of first place in the National League Central for the first time this season.

Holliday remained red-hot, going 2-for-4 and driving in three runs after hitting three homers and collecting nine RBIs over the Cardinals’ previous two games. Seth Maness (6-3) retired the only batter he faced in the seventh and Trevor Rosenthal worked around a two-out error by first baseman Matt Adams in the ninth for his 41st save as St. Louis overtook Milwaukee atop the division by one game and increased its lead over the Pirates in the division to three.

Andrew McCutchen homered and combined with Josh Harrison to score all four runs for Pittsburgh, which remained two games behind the Brewers for the second wild card. Gerrit Cole (7-5) suffered only his second loss since May 13, giving up five runs on eight hits in his fourth start versus the Cardinals after he was tagged with the loss in the decisive game of last year’s NL Divisional Series.

Pittsburgh jumped out to an early two-run lead as Harrison singled to lead off the game and McCutchen hit a ground-rule double in front of Neil Walker, who doubled off the base of the wall in right-center to plate both runners. Harrison reached on a fielder’s choice grounder and made it 3-0 in the second when he raced home on Andrew Lambo’s line-drive two-base hit off the top of the wall in right.

Holliday drew the Cardinals within a run on a double into the gap in right-center, but McCutchen greeted Kevin Siegrist at the start of the seventh with a solo blast off the facing of the third deck in left. Cole could not hold the 4-2 lead, however, as Wong sent a two-run shot into the St. Louis bullpen in right and Holliday plated the go-ahead run off John Axford two batters later with a grounder between short and third.

GAME NOTEBOOK: St. Louis, which went 19-8 last September, improved to 53-28 in the month since 2011 – both marks are the best in the majors. … Harrison, who finished 2-for-5, has multiple hits in four of his last five games. … Wong, who recorded his team's first pinch-hit homer of the season, was not in Monday’s lineup due to a neck injury he sustained during the Cardinals’ 9-6 victory in Chicago on Sunday, but was cleared to play after passing his concussion tests prior to the start of the game.