MILWAUKEE -- Jhonny Peralta, Tommy Pham and Aledmys Diaz hit home runs while Carlos Martinez struck out a career-high 11 batters as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1, Saturday afternoon at Miller Park.

Peralta had been held out of the starting lineup the last two games because of a sore left thumb but announced his return in a big way, crushing an 0-2 offering from Chase Anderson (4-10) to left-center field for his fourth of the year, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals added a run in the third inning when Stephen Piscotty tripled and scored on a Randal Grichuk single.

The Brewers loaded the bases twice but came up empty against Martinez (8-6), who allowed five hits with four walks over five innings of work.

His only earned run came in the third, when Jonathan Villar led off with a single, stole two bases, then scored on a Kirk Nieuwenhuis single.

Anderson's recent struggles continued.

He struck out five and only allowed two runs on four hits, but walked five and lasted just four innings. Anderson has not worked past the sixth in his last five starts and has not gone past four innings in his last three outings.

Milwaukee's bullpen retired 11 in a row after that. Yadier Molina, who had already drawn two walks on the day, snapped that streak with a two-out double in the eighth off Blaine Boyer, then scored on Jedd Gryoko's single to center, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

Pham put St. Louis up three with a leadoff home run in the ninth and, after walks to Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia, Diaz broke the game open with a three-run shot to left.

Both home runs came against Michael Blazek, who did not retire a batter. Against the Cardinals this season, Blazek has allowed eight runs while only recording five outs.

Alberto Rosario capped off the Cardinals' offense day with an RBI single in the ninth, the first hit of his major league career.

NOTES: Cardinals RHP Trevor Rosenthal was unavailable Saturday and expected to undergo further testing on his left hamstring and could be headed for the disabled list. He was pulled during a ninth-inning at-bat Friday when he started experiencing spasms. ... LF Matt Holliday was scratched from the lineup just before first pitch Saturday. He, too, left Friday's game due to tightness in his ankle. ... The Cardinals did get SS Jhonny Peralta back. He had missed the last two games with a sore left thumb ... Brewers manager Craig Counsell gave C Jonathan Lucroy a day off Saturday. He will be back in the lineup Sunday before traveling to San Diego to represent the Brewers at the All-Star Game. ... C Martin Maldonado got a start in Lucroy's place. He batted .353 (6-for-17) with two home runs in his six previous games, including four starts.