With one swing of the bat, Skip Schumaker got the St. Louis Cardinals off and running in their showdown for first place with the Cincinnati Reds on Monday.

Schumaker hit his first career grand slam during the Cardinals’ biggest inning of the season, and took it from there in a 7-3 victory. St. Louis moved within one game of first in the NL Central.

“It’s a good start,” Schumaker said.

St. Louis sent 12 batters to the plate for seven runs in the fourth, giving rookie Mike Leake (7-4) one of his worst moments in the majors. Schumaker’s grand slam — only his 19th career homer — made it 6-0. the ball cleared the wall in center and landed next to the Reds’ bullpen.

Carpenter (13-3) has won his last nine starts against the Reds, a streak that started in 2006. He gave up five hits and a pair of runs in seven innings.

The teams have been locked in a back-and-forth race since mid-May, never separated by more than three games since then. St. Louis leads the season series 8-5. they meet only one more time, for a three- in St. Louis from Sept. 3-5.

  • the Reds acquired ex-Cardinal outfielder Jim Edmonds through a trade with Milwaukee. Edmonds played for Reds general manager Walt Jocketty in St. Louis. Edmonds started in center and went 0 for 4 with a strikeout.

    The Reds’ offense has struggled with two young outfielders — Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce — counted upon heavily this season. Stubbs has started only one of the last seven games. He’s batting .234 with 14 homers and leads the team with 112 strikeouts. Bruce is batting .258 with 10 homers.

    Jurisprudence: A new York Mets fan who says a shattered bat smashed him in the face in the Shea Stadium stands is suing the team and Major League Baseball, claiming they didn’t do enough to protect fans from break-prone maple bats.

    James G. Falzon’s lawsuits follow years of discussion of the safety of maple baseball bats, which have become increasingly popular but have been shown to break apart more readily than traditional ash bats. Falzon was in a box seat along the third-base line, watching a fly ball soar, when the barrel of a broken maple bat flew into his face during an August 2007 Atlanta Braves game. He suffered multiple facial fractures, including a broken palate, as his traumatized 11-year-old son looked on, the lawsuits said.

    Falzon is seeking unspecified damages from the team, the league, Rawlings-brand bat maker the Jarden Corp. and two players: Mets second baseman Luis Castillo, who was wielding the bat, and then-Mets catcher Ramon Castro, who owned it, according to the lawsuits.

    Cubs: Carlos Silva underwent a procedure called cardiac ablation to correct a problem with his heart rate and the team hopes he will return to the mound sometime this season. Silva left his start on Aug. 1 with an abnormally fast heart rate.

    Twins: Right-hander Kevin Slowey will skip his next start because of soreness in his elbow.

    Rays: Right-hander Jeff Niemann (10-3, 3.12) was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder.

    Mariners: Shortstop Jack Wilson will miss at least six weeks and likely the rest of the season after being scheduled for surgery on Wednesday to repair his broken right hand.

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