Cardinals tie Cubs for NL Central lead
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt's power streak helped lift the St. Louis Cardinals into a share of the NL Central lead for the first time since early May.
Goldschmidt homered in his career-high fourth straight game, lifting the Cardinals over the Pittsburgh 6-3 on Thursday for a four-game sweep of the Pirates.
St. Louis won the eighth time in nine games and at 55-47 tied the idle Chicago Cubs for first. St. Louis last held the lead before play on May 7.
Goldschmidt drove in nine runs and had four of the Cardinals' 12 home runs during sweep.
"He's an impressive guy," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. "We're seeing what he's capable of consistently. We're not surprised."
With St. Louis ahead 2-1 in the fourth, Goldschmidt drove a changeup from Joe Musgrove (7-9) for his 22nd home run. He has one homer in each of his past five games against Pittsburgh.
"We've been finding some holes," Goldschmidt said. "We've been hitting extra-base hits."
Kolten Wong homered later in the fourth and Dexter Fowler hit a two-run drive for a 6-1 margin in the fifth as the Cardinals won for the 11th time in 14 games since the All-Star break, including their last five.
Pittsburgh was outscored 30-19 in the series and has lost 11 of 13.
"We haven't played winning baseball," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "I know that's an overstatement, but it's a statement, and it's true. We haven't played winning baseball. We haven't connected the dots."
Miles Mikolas (7-10) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings.
"I felt good to have a couple games in a row getting into the sixth and close to the seventh," Mikolas said. "Thought I had everything working today. Maybe not my best fastball, but I thought I had good control of the slider and the other offspeed stuff."
Musgrove matched his season high by giving up six runs — five earned — and seven hits in five
innings. He faulted his slider.
"I thought they were kind of able to eliminate that pitch," he said. "I threw a lot of really good ones just right off the edge. I couldn't get them to chase."
José Martinez hit an RBI single in the first and scored on Paul DeJong's sacrifice fly. Bryan Reynolds's sacrifice fly cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1 in the third.
Right-hander Alex McRae, recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis, followed Musgrove and gave up one walk in 1 2/3 innings.
To make room on the 25-man roster, right-hander Luis Escobar was optioned to Indianapolis.
Starling Marte extended his hit streak to six games with a double in the sixth that cut Pittsburgh's deficit to 6-2, and later scored on a groundball from Colin Moran for the 6-3 final. While Marte has been consistent, Pirates first baseman Josh Bell continues to struggle.
Bell, who was 1 for 3 with one walk Thursday, has seven hits in 38 at bats with two RBIs since the All-Star break. After hitting 27 home runs before the break, he has yet to homer since.
"I feel like I just have to focus on, I guess, being more selective for the time being," Bell said. "Seeing the last series or so, how guys are attacking me, I'm just going to try to go from there and hunt my pitch, and try not to miss it. See if that helps me get back on the right track."
METS 4, PADRES 0
NEW YORK (AP) — No big league pitcher has been better in the sun than Mets ace Jacob deGrom.
Given a rare bit of first-inning run support, the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner shined as expected.
DeGrom pitched seven innings of fourhit ball after teammates gifted him an unprecedented early lead and New York beat San Diego.
Todd Frazier hit a two-run double as New York built a four-run lead in its first turn against Eric Lauer, the most runs the Mets have scored in the first inning during deGrom's 160 starts.
DeGrom (6-7) struck out nine and walked one on 105 pitches in the matinee, extending his scoreless streak to 17 innings.
The ace from the Sunshine State has a 1.86 ERA in 52 day games, best in the majors since at least 1913 for pitchers with at least 200 innings.
Mets closer Edwin Díaz entered for the ninth in a non-save situation and was pulled after Manny Machado drilled a base hit off his left big toe. Díaz limped off the field with a trainer and was replaced by Luis Avilán. X-rays were negative.
The Padres have lost nine of 12, a slump that likely has dropped them out the crowded wild card race. Lauer (5-8) was pulled after 2 1/3 innings with four runs allowed on six hits and three walks.
DeGrom danced around bats with a slider averaging 91.8 mph. He threw the pitch 58 times, eight more than his previous career high in a 10-strikeout game against Philadelphia on July 5. This was the first time deGrom went slider for more than half of his pitches.
DeGrom got 12 whiffs with the breaking pitch, including one by Francisco Mejía in the second that wobbled the rookie, buckled his left ankle and nearly caused him to fall over.
New York gave deGrom a little help on defense, too. Shortstop Amed Rosario — tied for worst among shortstops with minus-15 defensive runs saved, per FanGraphs — made two flashy plays, including a diving stop on Luis Urías' grounder to end the seventh.
Frazier had two hits and two walks to bust out of a 1-for-18 slump. The veteran spent an hour Wednesday night watching tape of himself from earlier in his career and was in the batting cage at 7 a.m.
Four Padres relievers combined for 6 2/3 scoreless innings after the bullpen pitched five scoreless frames to close out a 7-2 win Wednesday night.
Machado had three hits and Mejía had two, accounting for all five of San Diego's hits.