Colton Garton held his tongue as the rest of his Benton teammates mobbed his twin brother, Austin, at the plate.

After all, he has a sibling rivalry to maintain.

“I knew he was going to start saying stuff whenever he came up and hit one,” Colton said of Austin’s second-inning home run.

But Colton one-upped his brother — both in distance and run production — with a grand slam that capped Benton’s offensive explosion Thursday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. Four Cardinal hitters homered during the Cardinals’ 18-6 victory against Chillicothe.

“When I got mine, I was like, I get to say something now,” Colton said, grinning.

Ryan Pinson and Jake Kretzer also launched tape-measure blasts that cooled off a hot Hornets team that has thrived on late-inning heroics this season.

Even with a lineup full of powerful bats, the home run derby took coach Mike Musser by surprise.

“Does anybody expect that? You never expect them to hit four home runs,” Musser said. “I couldn’t be happier for them and more proud.”

The Cardinals (15-2) already led 6-0 when Austin Garton drove Colin Parker’s offering over the right field fence — halfway up the patch of berm grass seating. The lefty junior took his time rounding the bases, savoring his two-run blast.

Following a slow start, Chillicothe’s hitters soon started circling the base paths on the Kansas City T-Bones’ home field.

Chillicothe roughed up reliever Josh Zuptich, and Jacob Rockhold brought the Hornets (17-6) to within two runs, 8-6, with his RBI single in the bottom of the third. Cory Eckert ended the threat by inducing an inning-ending double play ball from Austin Harlow.

Benton responded by batting around in a five-run fifth that included long balls from Pinson and Kretzer. His third homer of the year, Kretzer’s blast traveled an estimated 415 feet to straightaway center.

“I’m not worried about (the offense). We’re right on track,” Kretzer said. “We have our good days and bad days. This is a good one.”

Colton Garton finished the rout by slamming a 2-2 pitch from Zach Dunn into the visitor’s bullpen in left center, his first home run of the year. He stood next to his brother during a post-game photo opportunity in which all four mashers proudly displayed their home run balls.

None of Chillicothe’s three pitchers lasted longer than two innings, and each allowed at least five runs.

“The pitchers got frustrated at themselves, and that makes it worse sometimes,” Dave Mapel said. “We’ve got to quit doing that. We’ve got to let those go and get over it.”

The victory gave the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage in the season series after Chillicothe came from behind to take the Pony Express Tournament championship.

One year and one day after thumping Grain Valley 16-5 at Kauffman Stadium, the Cardinals hope to mirror the resulting momentum that carried them to a Class 3 state title.

“These big stadiums seem to be pretty good for us,” Musser said. “Last year, we had a big day at Kauffman Stadium, and the momentum carried on further than that.”

Every varsity player and several junior varsity members participated in the first contest before the junior varsity game was cancelled because of weather conditions.