INTERLEAGUE
CARDINALS 8-6, BLUE JAYS 4-4
ST. LOUIS -- It took a little while for the St. Louis Cardinals bats to get going during Thursday's day-night doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Once they did, they made a big difference.
After rallying late to win the first game, backed by Randal Grichuk's ninth-inning homer and Matt Carpenter's 11th inning grand slam, the Cardinals scored early and often in the nightcap to beat the Blue Jays 6-4 and sweep the doubleheader.
"Overall it's a good day," St. Louis Manager Mike Matheny said. "You walk out of here with two wins today. Having our back against the wall in the first one, that's impressive. I think it says a lot about these guys."
The Cardinals, who got back to .500 at 11-11, recorded 14 runs and 25 hits in the two games. The injury-plagued Blue Jays, the only team in the majors yet to win a series or consecutive games, fell to 6-16.
"Today was a big day," said Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright (2-3), who earned the victory in the nightcap. "We swept a doubleheader here at home. We wanted to play better ball at home this year. That's one thing we know we've got to do and we know we can do."
The Cardinals, who got three hits apiece from Dexter Fowler, Greg Garcia and Matt Adams in the second game, scored three times in the first inning.
After Fowler and Garcia hit back-to-back singles, Carpenter plated a run with a groundout and Stephen Piscotty hit an RBI sacrifice fly. Grichuk followed with an infield single and scored on Matt Adams' opposite-field double into the left field corner.
Fowler added a solo home run, his third of the season, in the second inning. Adams had an RBI single in the third. Piscotty had an RBI fielder's choice in the fourth to make it 6-0.
Matt Bowman (1-0) won the opener and the Cardinals' bullpen, which included seven different pitchers, combined to allow just 1 run on 4 hits in 7 2/3 innings over the two games.
Ryan Tepera (1-1) and Casey Lawrence (0-3) took the losses.
"It could have been a good day," Blue Jays Manager John Gibbons said. "Tough first ballgame, then we fell behind early. We made a run. Long, tough day getting swept."
In the opener, the Cardinals scored four times off Toronto's bullpen in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to tie the score, capped by Randal Grichuk's home run off Roberto Osuna.
Yadier Molina led off with a double and Grichuk connected two outs later, giving Osuna his third blown save.
Mat Latos, making his second start of the season for Toronto, scattered 3 hits over 6 shutout innings, striking out 4 and walking 4.
Carlos Martinez allowed 3 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings, with 8 strikeouts and 3 walks.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
PHILLIES 3, MARLINS 2 Jeremy Hellickson allowed one run over six innings to lead Philadelphia to its sixth consecutive victory, this one over visiting Miami.
BRAVES 7, METS 5 Yoenis Cespedes limped off with a pulled hamstring, Matt Harvey was chased in the fifth inning as he made an emergency start in place of ailing Noah Syndergaard, and New York's losing streak reached six with a defeat to visiting Atlanta.
NATIONALS 16, ROCKIES 5 Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run as part of an 11-run seventh inning, Trea Turner enjoyed another big game at Coors Field and Washington routed host Colorado.
DODGERS 5, GIANTS 1 (10) Run-scoring singles by Andrew Toles and Justin Turner in the 10th inning led Los Angeles to a victory over host San Francisco after pitcher Julio Urias made a solid start in his 2017 debut.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, PADRES 2 Taijuan Walker matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in eight effective innings, Chris Owings hit a pair of solo home runs and Arizona beat visiting San Diego.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
MARINERS 2, TIGERS 1 Ben Gamel had an RBI single in the ninth inning to help visiting Seattle beat Detroit. Tony Zych (1-0) was the winner, and Edwin Diaz pitched the ninth for his third save.
INDIANS 4, ASTROS 3 Francisco Lindor hit a long two-run home run in the seventh inning to lift host Cleveland over Houston. Lindor's 456-foot home run off Chris Devenski (1-1) landed in the visitors bullpen about 50 feet beyond the center field wall.
YANKEES 3, RED SOX 0 Masahiro Tanaka pitched a three-hitter to outduel Chris Sale and earn his first shutout since 2014, and visiting New York beat Boston for its fifth consecutive victory over the rival Red Sox. Tanaka (3-1) struck out three and threw only 97 pitches for his fifth career complete game and his 10th victory in 11 decisions dating to last season.
ANGELS 2, ATHLETICS 1 Ricky Nolasco (2-2) threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing 1 run and 3 hits as host Los Angeles won its fourth consecutive game in a sweep over Oakland.
Sports on 04/28/2017