St. Louis Cardinals Matt Holliday falls down in pain while batting in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on August 27, 2013.  Holliday remained in the game.  UPI/Bill Greenblatt

St. Louis Cardinals Matt Holliday falls down in pain while batting in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on August 27, 2013. Holliday remained in the game. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Matt Holliday drove in a run for the seventh consecutive game, and Carlos Beltran added two hits and two runs scored as the Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.

The Cardinals won for the sixth time in seven games, and moved 1.5 games ahead of Pittsburgh, which lost to Milwaukee, and 4.5 games up on the Reds.

Joe Kelly (6-3) allowed eight hits and the one run in six innings. He also walked three. He is now 6-0 since rejoining the starting rotation July 6. He has won his last three starts and five of his past six starts overall. He has a 2.08 ERA in 34.2 innings this month.  The club is now 8-1 in games that he has started since that date.

Holliday’s RBI in the first inning, tied for the second-longest stretch in the majors this season for driving in runs in consecutive games. Arizona slugger Paul Goldschmidt had an eight-game RBI streak in June.

The Cardinals are 10-4 this season against the reigning Central Division champs.