CINCINNATI (AP) – Scott Spiezio hit the last of the Cardinals’ three homers off Bronson Arroyo, who changed his hairstyle but not his luck Thursday, and St. Louis gained a soothing series split with a 6-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

The four-game series left the Cardinals 3 games ahead of second-place Cincinnati in the NL Central. They complete their season series with three games next week in St. Louis.

Jim Edmonds and Chris Duncan also homered off Arroyo (9-8), so frustrated by a seven-week slump that he got his shoulder-length hair braided into cornrows two days ago to try to change his luck.

Instead, the All-Star pitcher matched his career high for homers allowed and remained winless since June 19. He’s 0-5 in his last 10 starts with a 5.29 ERA, a stretch of futility that includes three blown saves by his bullpen.

Duncan added another solo homer in the ninth off Rheal Cormier, his first two-homer game of the season.

Rookie Anthony Reyes (4-5), the Cardinals’ medical relief specialist this season, struggled with his control through five shutout innings. He gave up a pair of hits, walked two and hit three batters.

Reyes has made 11 starts this season, filling in for injured Chris Carpenter, Sidney Ponson and Mark Mulder at various times. Most of his starts have been brief – only three have gone six innings.

A day after closer Jason Isringhausen gave up a game-ending, two-run homer to David Ross in the Reds’ 8-7 comeback win, the bullpen held on. Adam Wainwright allowed Javier Valentin’s pinch-hit solo homer in the seventh.

The Reds did all they could to promote the mid-August showdown, giving away Davey Concepcion bobbleheads for one game and offering half-price tickets and $1 hot dogs for the other three. They sold more than 130,000 hot dogs and packed their ballpark for the last three games.

Neither team has won very often lately, keeping the NL Central tight. The Cardinals have lost 10 of their last 14 games while holding onto first place. The Reds have dropped 7 of 12, but lost no ground in the standings over that time.

The main difference is that the Reds have won their head-to-head games, going 8-4 against the Cardinals overall to stay in the race.

Edmonds, Duncan and Spiezio played big roles in the series split. Edmonds hit a grand slam in Wednesday night’s loss, and had a solo homer and an RBI single off Arroyo as part of a three-hit day.

Duncan led off the fifth with a homer – he was 7-for-14 with three homers in the series. And Spiezio, filling in at third base for the injured Scott Rolen, put the Cardinals up 5-0 with his two-run shot later in the fifth. Spiezio has hit safely in his last six games, going 7-for-18 with three homers.

Notes: Edmonds’ homer was his 228th in seven seasons with the Cardinals, tying Ray Lankford for fourth on the club’s list. Edmonds hit 121 with the Angels. … Rolen left Wednesday night’s game with back spasms. He’s day to day. … RF So Taguchi lost track of the number of outs in the fourth inning, starting for the dugout after catching Juan Castro’s fly ball for only the second out. … The Reds optioned OF Chris Denorfia to Triple-A Louisville to open a roster spot for OF Todd Hollandsworth, acquired from Cleveland a day earlier. … Valentin has three of the Reds’ eight pinch-hit homers.