Cardinals belt 5 home runs to beat Nationals

CARDINALS 11, NATIONALS 8

WASHINGTON — Yadier Molina hit a grand slam, Marcell Ozuna homered twice and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 11-8 on Tuesday night.

Molina provided a cushion for St. Louis via his sixth career slam, which made it 11-5 with two outs in the ninth.

The Cardinals, who occupy the second National League wild card spot, hit five home runs overall as they stopped a three-game skid.

Right fielder Yairo Munoz robbed Ryan Zimmerman of a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, reaching over the fence and pulling it back into the field of play for a tworun double.

Tyson Ross (8-9) pitched 11/3 innings for the victory and Jordan Hicks got the final out for his sixth save in 11 chances.

Ozuna and Paul DeJong homered back-to-back leading off the sixth inning to break a 4-4 tie, and one out later, Patrick Wisdom went deep to make it 7-4.

Making his second major league appearance, reliever Austen Williams (0-1) gave up all three home runs. He allowed none in 68 innings this season in Class AA and AAA.

BREWERS 11, CUBS 1 Lorenzo Cain reached base five times, Wade Miley pitched six stingy innings and host Milwaukee romped past Chicago to climb within three games of the NL Central leaders. Miley (3-2) allowed 1 run and 3 hits, struck out 5 and walked none as Milwaukee won for the fifth time in its last six meetings with its division rival. PHILLIES 9, MARLINS 4 Carlos Santana homered to start a four-run first inning and visiting Philadelphia snapped a three-game losing streak. Jake Arrieta (10-9) struck out a season-high 11 and earned his first victory since July 31. a pinch-hit home run and Carlos Gonzalez tripled with the bases loaded during a five-run seventh inning that carried NL West Colorado past visiting San Francisco.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RAYS 4, BLUE JAYS 0 Ryne Stanek (Arkansas Razorbacks) became the first rookie pitcher in 75 years to start consecutive games and combined with six relievers on a three-hitter in visiting Tampa Bay’s victory. Stanek became the first rookie to start back-to-back games since the St. Louis Cardinals’ Red Munger got one out in a loss to Philadelphia on July 28, 1943, then pitched a complete game victory over the Phillies the following day, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Hunter Wood (Rogers Heritage) pitched two hitless innings for his first victory, Jalen Beeks (Fayetteville, Razorbacks) worked 22/3 innings, Jose Alvarado got one out, Diego Castillo pitched the seventh and eighth, and Adam Kolarek got the first out in the ninth. Sergio Romo finished off the victory.

INDIANS 9, ROYALS 3 Mike Clevinger struck out 10, Francisco Lindor hit a leadoff home run and host Cleveland moved closer to their third consecutive American League Central title with a victory over Kansas City. The Indians ended a three-game losing streak and reduced their magic number for clinching another division title to 11.

RANGERS 4, ANGELS 2 Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus each hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to put host Texas ahead to stay in a victory over Los Angeles. Andrus hit the first pitch of the fourth against Andrew Heaney (8-9) to tie the game at 1. Two batters later, Beltre went deep for the ninth time this season and 471st time in his career.

ASTROS 5, TWINS 2 Alex Bregman hit three doubles and Yuli Gurriel homered for the second game in a row, leading Justin Verlander and Houston over visiting Minnesota. Verlander (14-9) yielded 1 run and 3 hits while fanning 8 over 7 innings.

TIGERS 8, WHITE SOX 3 Mikie Mahtook hit a two-run home run and rookie Grayson Greiner drove in three runs as Francisco Liriano won for the first time in over four months in Detroit’s victory over host Chicago.

INTERLEAGUE

REDS 5, BRAVES 1 Steve Pearce had 3 hits and 3 RBI, Rick Porcello allowed 2 hits in 5 innings, and visiting Boston beat Atlanta for its second consecutive victory in a matchup of division leaders. Porcello (16-7) gave up 1 run, struck out 5 and walked 1.