Cardinals use 6- run 4th to plaster rival Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matt Carpenter likes hitting on the other side of the state.
Carpenter hit a three- run home run in St. Louis’ six- run fourth inning, and the Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals 11- 3 on Monday night for their third consecutive victory.
In 13 games at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, Carpenter is hitting .451 with 4 home runs and 14 RBI. He led off the game with a double. “I’ve always thought it’s a good place to hit, but that’s kind of the funny thing about baseball, when you get off to a good start, your confidence is high and that’s the case here,” Carpenter said.
Paul DeJong and Kolten Wong also hit home runs for the Cardinals, who returned to .500 at 56- 56.
Carlos Martinez ( 8- 9) pitched eight innings of two- run ball for his second victory in his past nine starts.
“I didn’t even know we were back at .500,” said Dexter Fowler, who tripled, walked and scored two runs in his first game back off the disabled list. “At the end of the day, you look at it at the end of the season.”
Kansas City aided St. Louis’ big fourth inning.
Ian Kennedy ( 4- 8) walked No. 9 hitter Greg Garcia on five pitches with the bases loaded, and shortstop Alcides Escobar and catcher Drew Butera each committed an error.
Butera made an errant throw while trying to pick off Fowler at third, allowing him to score.
Carpenter connected five pitches later on a drive to right with Wong and Garcia aboard.
Kennedy was charged with 7 runs,
6 earned, and 6 hits in 6 innings. He is winless in 14 consecutive starts at Kauffman since beating the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 20, 2016.
“He had a bad inning,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “In the fourth inning, they unloaded on him.”
Mike Moustakas hit his 32nd home run, four short of tying the Royals’ single- season record of 36 set by Steve Balboni in 1985.
TWINS 5, BREWERS 4 Eddie Rosario doubled home the tying run in the seventh inning and scored the eventual winning run on a balk for the host Twins. Rosario hit a drive over the head of right- fielder Domingo Santana, who took two steps in before watching the ball sail over him. Rosario was at third with two out when the Brewers employed a dramatic shift on left- handed hitting Jason Castro. With no fielder near third base to hold him on, Rosario danced halfway down the baseline, causing Oliver Drake ( 3- 4) to step off the rubber. When Drake stepped back on the rubber, Rosario made another break for home. This time Drake flinched and plate umpire Bill Welke called a balk, sending Rosario home.
PIRATES 3, TIGERS 0 Trevor Williams pitched seven shutout innings, leading host Pittsburgh to victory. Williams ( 5- 4) struck out 5 and walked 2, giving up a leadoff single to James McCann in the third. Williams threw a career- high 107 pitches and never allowed a runner to third base. Juan Nicasio got three outs for his second save, completing Pittsburgh’s one- hitter.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NATIONALS 3, MARLINS 2 Max Scherzer pitched seven innings in his first start since he was sidelined by neck spasms, and the host Nationals beat Miami. Bryce Harper hit his 29th home run, and pinch hitter Adam Lind singled in the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning. The Nationals expanded their lead in the NL East over second- place Miami to 14 games. Brandon Kintzler ( 4- 2) worked the eighth and Sean Doolittle got three outs to earn his sixth save. Giancarlo Stanton hit his major league- leading 37th home run for the Marlins, matching his previous career high. Jarlin Garcia ( 0- 2) got the loss. Scherzer struck out nine and gave up two runs. The right- hander was coming off an abbreviated start against the Marlins six days earlier, when he was pulled after one inning with neck spasms.
REDS 11, PADRES 3 Joey Votto hit a home run for the third consecutive game and the Reds outslugged the visiting Padres in a game with six home runs. Patrick Kivlehan, Adam Duvall and Zack Cozart also hit home runs for the Reds. Kivlehan hit a grand slam. Votto’s 30th home run of the season pulled him into a tie with Ted Kluszewski on the Reds’ career list at 251. Jose Pirela drove in all of San Diego’s runs with his first career multihomer game.