Former Lobo Gonzalez hits a HR off Pujols — yes, Albert

Dodgers avoid being swept at home by Phillies, walk it off in the ninth

ST. LOUIS — Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina set a major league record for wins by a starting battery as the St. Louis Cardinals routed the San Francisco Giants 15-6 on Sunday night in a game that ended with veteran slugger Albert Pujols on the mound.

Molina homered and drove in four runs, Wainwright pitched six effective innings and St. Louis roughed up Carlos Rodón early. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado each added a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the series after losing two of three to struggling Baltimore. Goldschmidt had three RBIs.

Pujols, the Cardinals’ designated hitter, entered to pitch for the first time in his 22-year career in the ninth inning. He gave up a three-run homer to former UNM Lobo Luis Gonzalez and a solo shot to Joey Bart but managed to get the final three outs with plenty of margin to spare.

At the time of the at-bat, Gonzalez himself was the pitcher of record for San Francisco, and he closed for the Giants with 1⅓ innings of scoreless, one-hit relief after starting the game in left field. Gonzalez, who once pitched for the Lobos, was clocked as low as 42 mph Sunday night.

The 42-year-old Pujols became the oldest player to make his major league pitching debut since Lena Blackburne brought himself in to pitch at age 42 in his final big league game as a player/manager for the 1929 Chicago White Sox.

Wainwright and Molina broke the major league record with their 203rd victory as a starting battery.

Joc Pederson had a two-run homer for San Francisco.

DODGERS 5, PHILLIES 4: In Los Angeles, Gavin Lux atoned for an earlier fielding mistake with a two-run double in the ninth inning, and the Dodgers avoided a four-game series sweep.

The Phillies led 4-0 after an earlier Lux error, and were up 4-2 after Aaron Nola threw seven gutsy innings of four-hit ball. Lux drew a leadoff walk in the eighth and scored on Mookie Betts’ double off Jeurys Familia, but the reliever escaped with two groundouts.

Philadelphia then got within one strike of its first four-game sweep at Dodger Stadium since 1985, but couldn’t close it out.

Betts also homered for the Dodgers, who avoided their first five-game skid since April 2019.

YANKEES 5, WHITE SOX 1: In Chicago, Nestor Cortes pitched a career-high eight innings to lead New York.

New York managed just two hits: a second-inning single for Isiah Kiner-Falefa and a two-run homer by Joey Gallo in the ninth. But it was more than enough, thanks to the crafty Cortes (2-1).

The 27-year-old left-hander struck out seven and walked none in another brilliant performance. He has permitted two runs or fewer in each of his seven starts this year.

ROYALS 8, ROCKIES 7: In Denver, Salvador Perez hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the ninth inning and Kansas City recovered from blowing a six-run lead to beat Colorado.

Bobby Witt Jr., Whit Merrifield and Emmanuel Rivera homered for the Royals, who took two of three from the Rockies. Colorado overcame a 6-0 deficit by scoring seven times in the seventh.

ANGELS 5, ATHLETICS 1: In Oakland, Calif., Shohei Ohtani homered for the second consecutive game, leading Los Angeles.

His eighth homer this season was a 425-foot drive deep into the right-field stands off a first-inning sinker from Frankie Montas. Mike Trout, who singled ahead of Ohtani, scored.

The Angels (24-13) moved 11 games above .500 for the first time since July 28, 2015.

ASTROS 8, NATIONALS 0: In Washington, Yuli Gurriel went 3-for-4 with a homer, Justin Verlander pitched five scoreless innings and Houston beat Washington.

Jose Altuve, Martin Maldonado and Chas McCormick also homered for the Astros. Gurriel finished the series 8-for-12 with two homers and four RBIs.

A day after allowing 13 runs as Houston’s 11-game winning streak ended, Astros pitchers returned to form, tossing their fourth shutout in seven games.

MARINERS 8, METS 7: In New York, rookie Julio Rodríguez had his first four-hit game and Mike Ford had a two-run single in a three-run fourth, as Seattle matched a season high with 16 hits in handing the Mets their first series loss of the season.

Seattle won its first road series after losing four along with a split. The Mets had been 9-0-1 in their previous series this season.

PADRES 7, BRAVES 3 (11 inn.): In Atlanta, Ha-Seong Kim had a run-scoring double to give San Diego the lead in a four-run 11th inning.

Kim’s double to left field off Jackson Stephens (0-1) drove in Jake Cronenworth, who opened the inning as the automatic runner on second.

Wil Myers added a two-run single for San Diego.

CUBS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2: In Phoenix, Frank Schwindel had a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning to lead Chicago.

Patrick Wisdom and Rafael Ortega homered for the Cubs, who have won four of six.

RAYS 3, BLUE JAYS 0: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Matt Chapman’s throwing error allowed Tampa Bay to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning, and the Rays went on to beat the Toronto.

The Rays took two of three from the Blue Jays.

BREWERS 7, MARLINS 3: In Miami, Kolten Wong homered, singled and had three walks to lead Milwaukee.

Playing in his 1,000th major league game, Wong also stole two bases for the Brewers, who finished 4-5 on their road trip.

Jace Peterson and Rowdy Tellez also homered to back Brandon Woodruff.

RANGERS 7, RED SOX 1: In Arlington, Texas, Adolis García and Kole Calhoun each hit two home runs, Martin Perez pitched six strong innings and Texas beat Boston.

Texas trailed 1-0 and didn’t have a hit until Calhoun led off the bottom of the fifth with an oppositefield homer into the visitors’ bullpen in left-center.

TIGERS 5, ORIOLES 1: In Detroit, Miguel Cabrera blasted his 505th career home run, Tarik Skubal equaled his career high with 11 strikeouts, and the Tigers completed their first series sweep this season.

Cabrera had two hits, scored two runs and knocked in two more for Detroit, which has won three straight.

TWINS 3, GUARDIANS 1: In Minneapolis, Joe Ryan allowed one run over six innings and was backed by solo homers from Byron Buxton and Gio Urshela as the Twins beat Cleveland.