ST. LOUIS — Every position player had at least one hit Thursday afternoon as the St. Louis Cardinals overcame a two-run deficit and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 at Busch Stadium. St. Louis finished with a season-high 18 hits, won its third game in a row and closed the homestand with a 6-1 record.

How it went

Allen Craig and Tony Cruz had RBI singles and David Freese had a two-run single in the Cardinals' four-run fifth that gave them a 6-4 lead. St. Louis sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning. The outburst, which came against left-hander Chris Capuano (10-6), came after the Dodgers scored four runs against Jake Westbrook (9-8) in their half of the fifth to lead 4-2. Matt Holliday added a bases-empty homer in the sixth against Javy Guerra, his 17th of the season. Matt Carpenter and Cruz had run-scoring singles in the fourth to put the Cardinals ahead 2-0.

By the numbers

The No. 5 spot in the Cardinals' order was 5-for-5, with Freese going 3-for-3 and Skip Schumaker going 2-for-2. ... Westbrook allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits in seven innings. He struck out the side in the fourth, getting Tony Gwynn, Mark Ellis and Matt Kemp. ... Freese, who left the game with cramping in his right calf, has 15 hits in his last 28 at-bats (.536). ... Jason Motte recorded his 22nd save. ... Carpenter also had three hits for the Cardinals. ... There were 26 hits in the game, 24 of them singles. The Cardinals had the only extra-base hits.