NATIONAL LEAGUE
CARDINALS 4, METS 3 (13)
ST. LOUIS -- Dexter Fowler has hit in six different lineup slots in the last six games for the St. Louis Cardinals. In the series finale against the New York Mets, he was at the right spot at the right time.
Fowler's 13th-inning single capped a comeback from a pair of deficits Thursday and gave the Cardinals a 4-3 victory.
"I'm a swing man, I'm hitting everywhere," Fowler quipped. "First, second, I'm trying to get all nine. Some people play all nine positions, I just hit everywhere."
The lineup juggling has been an attempt by Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny to spark Fowler and several other hitters after a slow start. Fowler has three RBI in his last two games.
"My swing's there," Fowler said. "I've just been hitting stuff off the end of the bat, not hitting it the way I want to. I'm barreling it, just towards the end."
St. Louis trailed 2-0 in the seventh and 3-2 in the 10th. Tommy Pham had four hits and scored twice, a day after leaving a game after cutting his head with his bat while warming up in an indoor batting game. He played with a large bandage on his head.
"It could have been worse," Pham said. "I'm just extremely lucky."
Jose Martinez walked with one out in the 13th against Paul Sewald (0-1), took second on a single by Marcell Ozuna and scored when Fowler singled to right for his sixth game-ending RBI.
John Gant (1-0), recalled from Class AAA Memphis before the game, pitched three perfect innings of relief for his second big league victory. His first was for Atlanta against the Mets on June 17, 2016.
"He was finishing that game," Matheny said. "He did a good job of finishing that game."
St. Louis won its second consecutive against the Mets after losing the series opener in 10 innings. The Mets have lost eight of 12 after an 11-1 start.
"It would be frustrating if we weren't where we are at in the standings," Mets Manager Mickey Callaway said. "Were still in a pretty good spot, so what has happened the last week or week-and-a-half is not going to continue to happen. That's just not going to happen, 'cause we have really good pitchers and really good players."
New York went ahead 3-2 in the 10th when Luke Gregerson loaded the bases with a walk to Adrian Gonzalez and forced in a run with a walk to Jose Lobaton.
Pham singled with two outs in the bottom half and scored when Martinez doubled off the center-field wall against Jeurys Familia, who blew a save for the third time in 12 chances.
"That guy's nasty," Martinez said.
Mets starter Noah Syndergaard allowed 2 runs -- 1 earned -- and 6 hits in 7 1/3 innings with 7 strikeouts and no walks. He retired his first 10 batters and did not allow a runner into scoring position until the seventh inning.
"I think the big thing for me today was going out there and throwing in and tight to hitters," Syndergaard said. "I haven't really had my slider all season, but it was nice going out there and mix and match my sinker and change up and curveball when I needed it."
Pham said Syndergaard has gotten better.
"I faced him in Triple-A and I faced him a couple of years ago -- he was more so just a thrower with great stuff," Pham said. "Now he's elevated his arsenal."
Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez gave up 1 run and 4 hits in 6 innings.
Yoenis Cespedes hit an RBI double in the first that ended Martinez's scoreless streak at 18 innings and made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. His 23 RBI are one behind NL leader Javier Baez of the Chicago Cubs.
BRAVES 7, REDS 4 Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies, the two youngest players in the major leagues, both homered and combined for five RBI to lead Atlanta over host Cincinnati and give the Braves a split of the four-game series.
DIAMONDBACKS 8, PHILLIES 2 Jarrod Dyson, Nick Ahmed and David Peralta homered and visiting Arizona earned a victory over Philadelphia.
CUBS 1, BREWERS 0 Kyle Hendricks outpitched Chase Anderson with seven crisp innings, and host Chicago stopped Milwaukee’s eightgame win streak.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 4, TWINS 3 Gary Sanchez hit a three-run home run off Fernando Rodney in the ninth inning, and host New York beat Minnesota to complete a four-game sweep and extend their winning streak to six.
MARINERS 5, INDIANS 4 Andrew Miller's absence was immediately felt by the Cleveland bullpen when Kyle Seager hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning off Nick Goody that lifted visiting Seattle to a victory.
RAYS 9, ORIOLES 5 C.J. Cron and Wilson Ramos homered and visiting Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over Baltimore.
RED SOX 5, BLUE JAYS 4 J.D. Martinez hit a three-run home run, Chris Sale won for the first time in three starts and Boston rallied to beat host Toronto.
WHITE SOX 6, ROYALS 3 Matt Davidson hit two of visiting Chicago’s five home runs, leading the team to a victory over Kansas City.
INTERLEAGUE
PIRATES 1, TIGERS 0 Corey Dickerson hit the first game-ending home run of his major league career, a disputed one-out drive in the ninth inning that lifted host Pittsburgh over Detroit.
Sports on 04/27/2018