Velasquez finding his form as Phillies down Cardinals

Vince Velasquez pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning, and Carlos Santana and Pedro Florimon each hit home runs in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

Velasquez (4-4) gave up five hits in 6 1/3 innings, struck out five and walked two in recording his third straight win. The Phillies won for the seventh time in eight games and improved to 17-2 against opponents outside of the NL East.

At 25-16, the Phillies are nine games over .500 for the first time since they were 102-60 at the close of the 2011 season. Philadelphia is 24-12 since starting the season 1-4.

Odubel Herrera reached base three times to extend his on-base streak to 43 games, fifth-longest in franchise history. It is also the longest streak in the majors since Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman reached in 46 successive games in 2016.

Santana broke a scoreless tie by slugging a 437foot drive to center — his team-leading eighth — in the fifth off Luke Weaver (3-3), who gave up one run and four hits over seven innings. Weaver struck out six and walked one for St. Louis, which has lost four of five.

Aaron Altherr drove in a pair of runs with a basesloaded single in the eighth that pushed the Phillies’ lead to 3-0. Herrera’s RBI double made it 4-0.

St. Louis cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the eighth on Marcell Ozuna’s run-scoring fielder’s choice and Jedd Gyorko’s RBI single.

Florimon hit a two-run homer in the ninth off reliever John Brebbia. last appearance was on May 6.