ST. LOUIS — Luke Weaver and Tommy Pham were teammates with Class AAA Memphis to open the 2017 season. Now they’re helping the St. Louis Cardinals make a push toward the playoffs.
Weaver threw 6 innings of 2-hit ball, Pham drove in 2 runs and stole 2 bases, and the Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 on Thursday.
“I felt great,” Weaver said. “It’s a close race we’re in and we just needed the big win, and I’m just happy to contribute.”
The Cardinals, who are chasing the first-place Cubs in the NL Central and the Rockies in the wild-card standings, have won 5 of their last 6 and 9 of 12.
Weaver (6-1), a rookie right-hander, allowed 1 unearned run, struck out 6 and didn’t walk a batter.
“Outstanding job from Luke,” Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny said. “He’s done a real nice job of taking advantage of the opportunity.”
Weaver was 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 4 appearances, including 3 starts, in June. He’s now 3-0 with a 0.99 ERA in 3 starts this month.
“That guy, that bulldog, that everything he was in Memphis is exactly what he is up here and what he’s going to be moving forward,” Cardinals outfielder Harrison Bader said. “He’s found himself and he’s just rolling with it and it’s really fun to watch.”
Rookie left-hander Amir Garrett (3-8) was charged with 4 runs in 4 innings. He struck out seven and walked five.
“The walks hurt a bit today,” Reds Manager Bryan Price said. “I thought after the first hitter of the game, [Matt] Carpenter, it looked like he got on a nice roll. It ended up being a catalyst to their scoring was three of the walks that came ahead of a two-run single and home run.”
The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the second when Scott Schebler hit a double and scored with two outs when shortstop Paul DeJong mishandled Phillip Ervin’s grounder.
Garrett struck out four consecutive batters before running into trouble with back-to-back, full-count walks with two outs in the third.
After a stolen base by Pham and a double steal by Pham and DeJong, Jose Martinez came through with a full-count, two-run single to left to put St. Louis ahead.
“We needed somebody to put that shot in the arm for us and to give us that big hit,” Matheny said.
DIAMONDBACKS 7, ROCKIES 0 A.J. Pollock had four RBI for the second consecutive day, J.D. Martinez homered for the 10th time in 11 games and Arizona extended their NL wild-card lead with a victory over visiting Colorado.
NATIONALS 5, BRAVES 2 Rookie Victor Robles was a part of a pair of two-run rallies, Tanner Roark pitched six strong innings and host Washington beat Atlanta.
PHILLIES 10, MARLINS 0 Rhys Hoskins homered again and Freddy Galvis and Jorge Alfaro also went deep to lead Philadelphia to a victory over visiting Miami.
Wednesday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 5, Cincinnati 2 Arizona 7, Colorado 0 Philadelphia 10, Miami 0 Washington 5, Atlanta 2 Chicago Cubs 14, NY Mets 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chicago White Sox 17, Detroit 7 Boston 6, Oakland 2
NY Yankees 13, Baltimore 5 Cleveland 3, Kansas City 2 (10) Seattle 10, Texas 4
Minnesota 3, Toronto 2 (10) Houston at LA Angels, (n) CUBS 14, METS 6 Anthony Rizzo homered and had three hits, Jason Heyward went deep and drove in four and host Chicago beat New York.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
WHITE SOX 17, TIGERS 7 Avisail Garcia went 5 for 5 and drove in a career-high 7 runs, Yoan Moncada scored 5 times and visiting Chicago pounded out 25 hits while routing Detroit. RED SOX 6, ATHLETICS 2 Drew Pomeranz pitched 6 innings of 1-run ball, and Andrew Benintendi (Arkansas Razorbacks) had 3 hits and drove in 3 runs to lead AL East-leading host Boston past Oakland.
YANKEES 13, ORIOLES 5 Aaron Judge had a pair of three-run home runs for a career-best six RBI, Todd Frazier hit a three-run home run that chased Wade Miley with one out in a six-run first inning and New York routed visiting Baltimore. MARINERS 10, RANGERS 4 Nelson Cruz went 4 for 4 with a home run and Kyle Seager hit a two-run home run as Seattle defeated host Texas.
TWINS 3, BLUE JAYS 2 (10) Byron Buxton’s 10th-inning home run gave Minnesota its second consecutive walk-off victory, this one over visiting Toronto.
Sports on 09/15/2017