AROUND THE HORN
■Cardinals: Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong both homered and drove in four runs to help the Cardinals outlast the Yankees 12-9 on Sunday in St. Louis, completing a three-game sweep. The Cardinals won their seasonhigh seventh straight in a slugfest that took 4 hours, 25 minutes — the longest nine-inning game in the majors this season. DJ LeMahieu homered for the Yankees, who have lost five in a row. It’s their worst skid since a seven-game slide last September. The Cardinals moved a season-best 12 games over .500 with their first regular-season series sweep of the Yankees, who still have the best record in the American League. But the Yankees’ lead in the AL East is down to 9 ½ games over the Blue Jays, the first time it’s been single digits since June 15. The Cardinals became the first team to sweep the Yankees in a series of at least three games this year. The Braves and Mets are the only clubs in the majors to avoid that fate so far.
■ Blue Jays, Twins: Cavan Biggio hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th and Whit Merrifield scored on an overturned call to lead the Blue Jays to a 3-2 road win over the Twins. Merrifield was originally called out at the plate, but the call was reversed after Twins C Gary Sanchez was deemed to have interfered with Merrifield, whose right foot collided with Sanchez’s left leg as he slid into home plate. The out would have ended the inning. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was ejected for arguing the call, the eighth time in his career he was thrown out and third this season. The Jays remained two games ahead of the Rays for the top wild card in the AL. The Twins’ lead in the AL Central shrank to one game after a win by the Guardians. The Jays’ Vladamir Guerrero Jr. went 1 for 4 to extend his career-high hitting streak to 18 games. It’s the longest active hitting streak in the majors . ... Twins OF Alex Kirilloff will undergo season-ending surgery Tuesday on his right wrist. Kirilloff, 24, hit .250 with three HRs and 21 RBIs in 45 games this season.
■White Sox: Andrew Vaughn had a two-run HR among his three hits, Luis Robert hit a two-run double and AJ Pollock had two doubles in a threehit game as the White Sox beat the host Rangers 8-2 to split a four-game series. Leury Garcia had three hits and scored twice, and Jose Abreu had three singles as the White Sox broke out offensively. They had 15 hits, five for extra bases, after being limited to four runs and 13 hits in the previous three games. The White Sox pulled within two games of the first-place Twins in the AL Central. Garcia played shortstop in place of All-Star Tim Anderson, who began a two-game suspension for making contact with plate umpire Nick Mahrley during an argument on July 29. MLB initially suspended Anderson for three games. He appealed, and the suspension was reduced. Lucas Giolito allowed one run in five innings on six singles and three walks to earn his second consecutive win. Giolito (8-6) struck out five and threw 103 pitches, four short of his season high.
■ Phillies: Darick Hall hit two HRs and Nick Maton and Rhys Hoskins each hit two-run HRs to lead the Phillies to a fourgame sweep of the visiting Nationals with a 13-1 victory. Maton drove in four runs, Bryson Stott had three RBIs and the Phillies scored five runs in the fourth and eighth innings. Aaron Nola (8-8) struck out five and allowed one run in six innings to put the Phillies (60-48), who are at least 12 games over .500 for the first time since August 2018. Hall hit a pair of solo HRs against Nats starter Cory Abbott (0-1) to play his part in the long-ball barrage against the Nationals. Hoskins homered all in four games in the series. The Phillies hit 14 HRs in the four games, their most in any single series in franchise history.