NATIONAL LEAGUE
CARDINALS 4, BREWERS 3
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals relied on power and the pitching of Carlos Martinez to solve their home woes Friday night.
Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty supplied two-run home runs for the National League's leading home run team and Martinez (14-7) pitched seven strong innings in a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.
The victory improved the Cardinals to 31-38 at Busch Stadium and kept them a half-game behind the New York Mets for the NL's second wild card.
Jimmy Nelson (7-14) retired the first eight Cardinals before Martinez started a two-out rally with a single up the middle. Carpenter followed with his 19th home run, Kolten Wong walked and Piscotty gave St. Louis the lead by hitting his 21st home run into the bullpen in right field.
"That gave me the extra energy to make it through and get the win for the team," Martinez said of the long balls.
Martinez gave up 9 hits and hit 2 batters in 7 innings but was helped by 3 double plays. He equaled his victory total from last season and improved to 3-0 in four starts against Milwaukee.
"He's our guy right now," Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said. "Carlos has been so consistent we've begun to anticipate he's going to have that strong outing."
Nelson lasted 6 innings and allowed 5 hits but fell to 0-7 in 8 career starts against St. Louis.
"The two guys that can really hurt him, hurt him," Brewers Manager Craig Counsell said. "Make mistakes to those guys and that's what's going to happen."
"It's just a crazy game and stuff happens," Nelson said. "There's never really just one answer in this game to anything. You don't want to think there's something wrong and start overanalyzing stuff, so you just try to keep it simple."
Scooter Gennett's two-run home run in the third gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the first when Gennett walked, Chris Carter was hit by a pitch and Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a hard one-hopper that shortstop Jedd Gyorko did not handle.
After the first-inning error, the Cardinals' defense later stopped two potential rallies. Piscotty made a running, over-the-head catch that saved a run in the sixth and Wong helped Martinez escape the third by making strong plays on two grounders at second base.
"Defense showed up, for sure," Piscotty said.
Wong reached base three times by walking twice and getting hit by a pitch.
"I'm just tired of people thinking that I'm not good," said Wong, who has been relegated to backup duty much of the season. "I believe in myself to the fullest."
Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances.
REDS 4, PIRATES 3 Jose Peraza's sacrifice fly snapped a ninth-inning tie and lifted Cincinnati to a victory over host Pittsburgh, ending the Reds' five-game losing streak.
NATIONALS 5, PHILLIES 4 Trea Turner hit his second home run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a solo shot that gave Washington a victory over visiting Philadelphia.
MARLINS 4, DODGERS 1 Jose Fernandez tied a career high with 14 strikeouts, overshadowing Clayton Kershaw's return from injury and leading host Miami to a victory over Los Angeles.
METS 6, BRAVES 4 Kelly Johnson's pinch-hit double drove in the go-ahead run in visiting New York's four-run eighth inning, and the team rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Atlanta for its sixth consecutive victory.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 7, RAYS 5 Mark Teixeira broke open the game with a fourth-inning grand slam, and surprising New York beat visiting Tampa Bay to extend its winning streak to six.
RED SOX 13, BLUE JAYS 3 Rick Porcello pitched seven innings to become the first 20-game winner in the majors, Hanley Ramirez hit a three-run home run and Boston increased its AL East lead to two games by routing host Toronto.
TIGERS 4, ORIOLES 3 Victor Martinez hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning and Detroit beat visiting Baltimore, pulling even with the Orioles for the American League's second wild card.
INDIANS 5, TWINS 4 Mike Napoli hit a mammoth home run on the first pitch of the fifth inning to give Cleveland the lead, and the team hung on to beat host Minnesota and maintain its six-game lead in the AL Central.
WHITE SOX 7, ROYALS 2 Carlos Rodon struck out a season-high nine over six innings, Adam Eaton doubled twice and scored two runs, and Chicago beat visiting Kansas City to prevent the Royals from gaining ground in the playoff race.
INTERLEAGUE
CUBS 2, ASTROS 0 Kris Bryant hit a two-run home run, Jon Lester threw seven scoreless innings, and Hector Rondon and Aroldis Chapman completed the shutout to give Chicago a victory over host Houston.
Sports on 09/10/2016