AP Photo Milwaukee starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez during the first inning Monday.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — In less than three weeks, the surging St. Louis Cardinals have climbed to the top of the division — and then some.

Marcell Ozuna’s bases-loaded double keyed a six-run second inning and St. Louis pounded out a 12-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.

The Cardinals, who have won five straight, jumped on starter Gio Gonzalez (2-2) for eight runs in the first two innings en route to their 14th victory in 17 games.

Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong each homered and drove in three runs for St. Louis, which moved to a season-high 14 games above .500. The Cardinals extended their lead in the N.L. Central to three games over idle Chicago. The third-place Brewers dropped 5 1/2 back.

“I think everything is just kind of coming to fruition. I don’t think we’re doing anything different,” DeJong said. “We might just have a little bit better focus when the game starts, knowing our plan, going out and executing without panic and without worry.”

Before their recent success, the Cardinals were in third place, four games out of first on Aug. 8.

Despite being staked to a 9-1 lead, starter Adam Wainwright lasted just 3 2-3 innings, throwing 90 pitches. He allowed two runs on six hits with three walks.

“The toughest part about today was I had a seven-run lead at that point and my manager looked out there and thought ‘we better make a change,'” Wainwright said. “That’s on me. But that hurts. It hurts my soul, it really does. But it’s going to make me work harder between starts and keep competing.

John Gant (9-0) relieved Wainwright and struck out three in 2 1/3 hitless innings for the victory.

Molina’s bases-loaded single with two outs in the first put the Cardinals up 2-0.

Molina’s fifth homer, a solo shot in the fourth, made it 9-1. DeJong added a two-run homer, his 24th, in the sixth and a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

“It was a bad game from the start,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Nothing went right. You’ve got to turn the page. We’ve got to forget about it. We played a poor game tonight. Come back tomorrow and try to change the score.”