Cardinals sweep Yankees behind home runs from Nolan Arenado, Paul DeJong

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Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong both homered and drove in four runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals outlast the New York Yankees 12-9 on Sunday, completing a three-game sweep.

St. Louis won its season-high seventh straight in a slugfest that took 4 hours, 25 minutes — the longest nine-inning game in the majors this season.

DJ LeMahieu homered for the Yankees, who have lost five in a row. It's their worst skid since a seven-game slide last September.

St. Louis (60-48) moved a season-best 12 games over .500 with its first regular-season series sweep of the Yankees. The surging Cardinals moved two games ahead of second-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

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St. Louis Cardinals' Paul DeJong (11) is congratulated by teammate Nolan Arenado (28) after hitting a three-run home run during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022, in St. Louis.  (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

"Anytime you can cap off a sweep of a great team like the Yankees, it's huge," Arenado said. "We beat a team that's playing great ball, too. Where we're trying to go, you've got to win series. It's just great to see us playing good baseball, playing hard."

New York still has the best record in the American League but its lead in the AL East is down to 9 1/2 games over Toronto, the first time it's been single digits since June 15.

St. Louis became the first team to sweep the Yankees in a series of at least three games this year. Atlanta and the New York Mets are the only clubs in the majors to avoid that fate so far.

Arenado, who launched a three-run homer in the second inning, had three hits and