ST. LOUIS — Even after such an impressive outing, Jack Flaherty just wanted to talk about his hitting.
Flaherty struck out a career-high 13 to earn his first major league win and Tyler O’Neill homered as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 on Sunday.
Making his ninth big league start, Flaherty (1-1) gave up only two hits and walked one in 7 2/3 dominant innings. But after throwing 120 pitches, all the rookie right-hander had on his mind was his first hit in 10 at-bats — a relatively meaningless single in the third.
“I got tired of looking up at the scoreboard and seeing all those zeros by my batting average,” Flaherty said. “So I needed to do something about it.”
Jordan Hicks got four outs to finish the two-hitter and threw the fastest pitch in the majors this season, according to Statcast — a 105 mph fastball to Odubel Herrera in the ninth. Hicks hit 105 mph twice and 104 three times against Herrera, the five fastest pitches in the big leagues this year.
The rookie reliever threw 11 pitches 100 mph or harder Sunday.
Herrera went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, ending his on-base streak at 45 games dating to last season.
“At some point, the streak had to end,” he said. “It’s part of the game. It’s part of baseball. Now, I’m looking forward to starting a new streak.”
O’Neill, who had three hits in the cleanup spot, homered for the second time in two games. His solo shot off Aaron Nola (6-2) in the sixth made it 3-1.
“I’m feeling a lot more comfortable,” O’Neill said. “The best part is that I was able to contribute and we got the win.”
Matt Carpenter added three hits and Greg Garcia drove in two runs to help St. Louis split the four-game series.
Rhys Hoskins homered in the fourth off Flaherty, who retired 10 in a row during one stretch.
“What Jack pulled off is one of the best starts we’ve seen in a long time,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “We pushed him and he responded. There were really no stress innings. He was extraordinary.”
Flaherty was called up Tuesday from Triple-A Memphis when Cardinals starters Adam Wainwright and Carlos Martinez went on the disabled list. He became the 13th pitcher to strike out at least 13 in a game this season. Flaherty’s total marked the most by a Cardinals pitcher since Martinez fanned 13 on Aug. 29, 2016, against the Braves.
Matheny was considering removing Flaherty after seven, especially with his spot in the batting order coming up to start the bottom of the inning.
CARDINALS 5, PHILLIES 1
“I looked at him and he gave me a dirty look and I thought that was perfect,” Matheny said.
Nola gave up a season-high four runs on seven hits over six innings. He struck out six, walked one and had a five-game winning streak snapped.
“They hit me pretty well today,” Nola said. “I left some balls over the plate, right in their paths.”
Garcia broke a 1-all tie with a run-scoring single in the fourth. He added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
St. Louis improved to 17-7 against Philadelphia since the start of the 2015 season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CUBS 6, REDS 1 Yu Darvish recovered from a shaky start and Kyle Schwarber hit one of Chicago’s three home runs in a 6-1 victory over Cincinnati. Schwarber, Javier Baez and Ben Zobrist dusted off their power strokes after each of them had gone a while without a home run. Schwarber launched a two-run drive and Baez and Zobrist each added a solo shot to help the Cubs take three of four in the series.
METS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1 Amed Rosario hit his first two home runs of the season and pinch-hitter Asdrubal Cabrera connected for a go-ahead drive, leading Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets over Arizona for a surprising sweep. The 22-year-old shortstop became the youngest Mets player to have a multihomer game since Lastings Milledge in 2007.
DODGERS 7, NATIONALS 2 Kike Hernandez and Yasiel Puig each hit two-run homers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Washington to complete a three-game sweep. Los Angeles, after losing six consecutive games, has now won four straight overall and five of six over Washington this season.
BRAVES 10, MARLINS 9 Dansby Swanson’s two-run single capped a six-run ninth, and NL-leading Atlanta rallied to stun Miami. Ronald Acuna Jr. drove in two runs in the seventh and another in the ninth as the Braves moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since July 5, 2014.
PADRES 8, PIRATES 5 Freddy Galvis drove in the go-ahead run in a four-run ninth inning with San Diego’s second successful squeeze bunt of the game, and the Padres rallied to beat Pittsburgh for their third win of the four-game series.
GIANTS 9, ROCKIES 5 Brandon Belt snapped a seventh-inning tie with a three-run homer and San Francisco beat Colorado.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RED SOX 5, ORIOLES 0 J.D. Martinez Martinez hit two vastly different drives for his first multihomer game with Boston, powering Eduardo Rodriguez and the Red Sox to a rare 13-hit shutout in a victory over Baltimore. Signed to a $110 million, five-year deal as a free agent in February, the 30-year-old Martinez curled his first home run an estimated 324 feet around the right-field foul pole. He hammered his second — projected at 443 feet — to the deepest part of the ballpark, beyond the center-field triangle, for his 15th of the season. Martinez drove in three runs, and former Arkansas Razorback Andrew Benintendi had a two-run homer among his three hits as the Red Sox won three of four in the series
to improve to 6-1 against Baltimore this season. ATHLETICS 9, BLUE JAYS 2 Daniel Mengden helped surging Oakland finish off a sweep and gave Oakland’s beleaguered bullpen a much-needed break. Mengden allowed two hits over seven shutout innings to win his second straight start, a rout of Toronto that completed a four-game sweep.
WHITE SOX 3, RANGERS 0 Reynaldo Lopez finished a career-high eight innings by striking out Shin-Soo Choo with a runner on first, and the Chicago White Six beat Texas for its first home series win this season.
YANKEES 10, ROYALS 1 Sonny Gray discovered a couple of tweaks in his delivery during his extended time off, and he transferred it to the mound, going eight innings and helping the New York Yankees beat Kansas City to win an eighth consecutive series for the first time in 20 years.
ANGELS 5, RAYS 2 Shohei Ohtani struck out nine while throwing 7 2/3 innings of excellent six-hit ball in his seventh career start, and the Los Angeles Angels snapped their five-game skid with a victory over Tampa Bay.
MARINERS 3, TIGERS 2 (12) Mitch Haniger hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth inning and Jean Segura’s RBI single in the 11th gave Seattle a victory over Detroit.
ASTROS 3, INDIANS 1 Lance McCullers allowed one hit over seven innings and Brian McCann hit a two-run homer to lead Houston over Cleveland. With the game still scoreless in the seventh inning, McCann sent the ball over the Astros’ bullpen in right-center field off an 87 mph changeup from Indians starter Carlos Carrasco (5-3). The homer brought home Yuli Gurriel, who had led off the inning with a single.
INTERLEAGUE
TWINS 3, BREWERS 1 Logan Morrison hit a two-run single to give Minnesota’s offense a much-needed lift, and four relievers worked 31/3 scoreless innings in a win over Milwaukee. Morrison’s liner hit high off the right-field wall with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth against reliever Boone Logan. The Twins were 3 for 18 with runners in scoring position in the series before Morrison’s single.