Miami Marlins Jarrod Saltalamacchia watches his three run home run leave Busch Stadium in the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis on July 6, 2014. Miami won the game 8-4. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Miami Marlins Jarrod Saltalamacchia watches his three run home run leave Busch Stadium in the eighth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis on July 6, 2014. Miami won the game 8-4. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

Casey McGehee extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with an RBI single in the first, Marcell Ozuna had a two-run single in a three-run sixth, and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s three-run homer off Jason Motte put Miami up 8-1 in the eighth.  The Marlins held off the Cardinals who chipped away late in an 8-4 final.

Cardinals rookie Marco Gonzalez was pulled with two outs in the fifth after throwing 107 pitches.  He allowed just one run, but gave up seven hits and five walks while striking out five.  His ERA in three major league starts is 7.07.  Nick Greenwood was tagged for three runs in two innings and Motte was hit again in his inning of work. Motte has allowed four homers in 14.1 innings this season and has seen his ERA spike from 2.79 on June 23, up to 5.65 after Sunday’s performance.

Marlins pitcher Henderson Alvarez is now 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA since May 16, allowing two or fewer runs in each of his last nine games.  Miami is 10-0 in games he starts.  He has been a savior for a team that lost their ace, Jose Fernandez, with an elbow injury.

Kolten Wong, just off the 15-day disabled list, had two hits and homered in the seventh for the lone run against Alvarez. Matt Adams had a career-best four hits, including an RBI double.