St. Louis Cardinals Carlos Beltran tips his helmet to the crowd as he recieves a standing ovation following his second two run home run. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Carlos Beltran homered from both sides of the plate and drove in five runs, as the Cardinals closed in on the NL’s second wild-card spot by beating the Washington Nationals 10-4 Sunday.

Washington (96-63),  saw its magic number for clinching the NL East stuck at one over second-place Atlanta (93-66).  Lance Lynn (18-7) allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.10 ERA in his last five appearances.