Fowler, Pham lead Cardinals past Mets in 13 innings

CARDINALS 4, METS 3 (13 INNINGS)

ST. LOUIS — Dexter Fowler has hit in six different lineup slots in the last six games for the St. Louis Cardinals. In the series finale against the New York Mets, he was at the right spot at the right time.

Fowler's 13th-inning single capped a comeback from a pair of deficits Thursday and gave the Cardinals a 4-3 victory.

"I'm a swing man, I'm hitting everywhere," Fowler quipped. "First, second, I'm trying to get all nine. Some people play all nine positions, I just hit everywhere."

The lineup juggling has been an attempt by Cardinals manager Mike Matheny spark Fowler and several other hitters after a slow start. Fowler has three RBIs in his last two games.

"My swing's there," Fowler said. "I've just been hitting stuff off the end of the bat, not hitting it the way I want to. I'm barreling it, just towards the end."

St. Louis trailed 2-0 in the seventh and 3-2 in the 10th. Tommy Pham had four hits and scored twice, a day after leaving a game after cutting his head with his bat while warning up in an indoor batting game. He played with a large bandage on his head.

"It could have been worse," Pham said. "I'm just extremely lucky."

Jose Martinez walked with one out in the 13th against Paul Sewald (0-1), took second on a single by Marcell Ozuna and scored when Fowler singled to right for his sixth game-ending RBI.

John Gant (1-0), recalled from Triple-A Memphis before the game, pitched three perfect innings of relief for his second big league win. His first was for Atlanta against the Mets on June 17, 2016.

"He was finishing that game," Matheny said. "He did a good job of finishing that game."

St. Louis won its second straight against the Mets after losing the series opener in 10 innings. The Mets have lost eight of 12 after an 11-1 start.

Thursday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE

Arizona 8, Philadelphia 2

Atlanta 7, Cincinnati 4

St. Louis 4, New York Mets 3, 13 innings Chicago Cubs 1, Milwaukee 0

AMERICAN LEAGUE

New York Yankees 4, Minnesota 3 Seattle 5, Cleveland 4

Tampa Bay 9, Baltimore 4 Boston 5, Toronto 4 Chicago White Sox 6, Kansas City 3

INTERLEAGUE

Pittsburgh 1, Detroit 0

BRAVES 7, REDS 4 Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies, the two youngest players in the major leagues, both homered and combined for five RBIs to lead Atlanta over the Cincinnati Reds and give the Braves a split of the four-game series. A day after the 20-year-old Acuna made his big league debut, he homered into the leftfield upper deck leading off the second inning, singled in the sixth and hit a tiebreaking double off Wandy Peralta (1-1) in the eighth following Freddie Freeman’s third double. Albies, a 21-year-old who made his debut last August, hit a two-run homer in the fifth for a 4-0 lead and added an RBI double in the ninth.

DIAMONDBACKS 8, PHILLIES 2 Jarrod Dyson, Nick Ahmed and David Peralta homered as Arizona improved to 17-7 and matched the 2008 Diamondbacks for the best 24-game start in franchise history. Dyson hit a two-run homer in the first and Chris Owings added an RBI double off Ben Lively (0-2) for a 3-0 lead.

CUBS 1, BREWERS 0 Kyle Hendricks (21) allowed four hits in seven innings to outpitch Chase Anderson (2-2), who allowed Kyle Schwarber’s sixth-inning homer, and Chicago stopped Milwaukee’s eight-game winning streak. Carl Edwards Jr. worked the eighth and Brandon Morrow finished the six-hitter for his fifth save. Kris Bryant missed his third straight game after he was beaned during a victory at Colorado last weekend.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

YANKEES 4, TWINS 3 Gary Sanchez hit a three-run homer in the ninth off Fernando Rodney (1-2), extending New York’s winning streak to six and completing an 8-2 homestand. The Yankees were held hitless through five innings and trailed 3-0 before Aaron Hicks’ sacrifice fly in the seventh. Dellin Betances (1-1) struck out the side on 13 pitches in the ninth for his first win since June 27. RED SOX 5, BLUE JAYS 4 J.D. Martinez hit a three-run homer, and Chris Sale (2-1) won for the first time in three starts, allowing three runs and four hits in six innings to improve to 5-1 in eight games at Toronto. Andrew Benitendi had two hits and an RBI for the Red Sox, who rallied from a 3-1 deficit. The Red Sox are a major league-best 19-5, including 7-1 in one-run games. Craig Kimbrel got three straight outs for his seventh save in as many chances, finishing a six-hitter.

WHITE SOX 6, ROYALS 3 Matt Davidson hit two of Chicago’s five home runs, leading the White Sox to a victory over the Kansas City Royals. Davidson, who drove in three runs, has seven home runs this season — five against the Royals. He hit three out in the season opener March 29. In this game, he homered in the fourth and then hit a two-run shot in the sixth that wemt 450 feet to left-center. Yoan Moncada homered to open the first inning for Chicago for the second straight night, and Yolmer Sanchez and Trayce Thompson also went deep against Jakob Junis (3-2), who became the third pitcher in franchise history to allow five homers in a game. The others were Chris Young, May 9, 2016 at the New York Yankees, and Sean O’Sullivan, May, 28, 2011 at Texas.

INTERLEAGUE

PIRATES 1, TIGERS 0 Corey Dickerson hit the first game-ending home run of his major league career, a disputed one-out drive in the ninth inning off Alex Wilson, (0-1). A fan reached over the 21-foot wall and caught the ball, and the home run was upheld in a video review. Felipe Vazquez (1-0) escaped a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the ninth when James McCann grounded into a forceout, Victor Martinez popped out and Jose Iglesias bounced into a forceout.