CARDINALS MAKE IT 15 IN A ROW FOR FRANCHISE RECORD

Harrison Bader and the St. Louis Cardinals clearly recognize their record is impressive. Now they also want to win their next game — and many more after that.

The Cardinals set a franchise mark with their 15th straight win, boosted when catcher Yadier Molina and center fielder Bader helped pull off a wild double play Saturday in an 8-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.

“It’s hard to do something in this organization that’s never been done,” manager Mike Shildt said.

The Cardinals date their

history to 1892, when they were known as the Browns and joined the National League. They later were called the Perfectos before becoming the Cardinals in the early 20th century.

Bader, Tyler O’neill and Paul Dejong homered as these Cardinals broke the team record of 14 wins in a row set in 1935, a year after Dizzy Dean and the Gas House Gang won the World Series. Dean was among five Hall of Famers on that club.

“My perspective is what time is the game tomorrow?” Bader said. “It’s great, don’t get me wrong. It’s part of history. There’s tremendous talent that’s come through. But we have bigger things we’re focused on. We have more games to win. We’re going to take this energy as deep as we can.”

Bader went 4-for-4 and scored three times as the Cardinals held their comfortable lead for the second NL wild-card spot, five games ahead of Philadelphia.

Trout officially done for ’21

Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout was trying to get back this season, but recently made the decision that he was done this year.

The three-time AL MVP suffered a calf strain on May 17 and hasn’t returned to the lineup since. The original prognosis was six to eight weeks of rehabilitation, but the injury was worse than originally thought.

The 30-year-old outfielder said he’s healthy and should have a normal offseason in New Jersey.

“It’s been tough for me, but now looking back and learning from everything, this was the biggest injury of my career,” Trout said.

“It came down to we were trying everything the last month and a half to get back out there. My calf and my body weren’t cooperating. It was frustrating. I took a week, 21⁄2 weeks off and I feel almost 100 percent.”

Trout hit .333 with eight home runs, 18 RBIS and a 1.090 OPS in 36 games this season.

Rays repeat in AL East

The Tampa Bay Rays clinched their second straight AL East title, with Mike Zunino hitting a goahead homer and Brandon Lowe later adding a pair of RBI doubles to beat the Miami Marlins 7-3.

Pete Fairbanks retired

Lewis Brinson on a foul popup with the bases loaded for the final out, giving the Rays the chance to celebrate on the field. Earlier in the day, Tampa Bay’s magic number was cut to one when the New York Yankees beat Boston 5-3.

There was a standing ovation from the seasonhigh crowd of 23,783 at Tropicana Field when the Yankees’ victory was announced after the top of the sixth inning.

Tampa Bay improved to 96-59 and won its fourth division title since becoming a major league team for the 1998 season. The Rays, who lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games last season, have never won the championship.