CARDINALS 9, PIRATES 7
PITTSBURGH -- Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Jhonny Peralta all homered off closer Tony Watson with two outs in the ninth inning, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rally past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7 on Tuesday night.
The Cardinals were down to their last strike when Carpenter sent a long drive to right-center to tie it 6-6. Grichuk followed two batters later with a two-run shot off Watson (2-4), and Peralta piled on with a solo home run as St. Louis held on to the second wild card in the National League.
Carpenter's home run was the 15th by a St. Louis pinch-hitter this season, a major league record. Yadier Molina went 4 for 5, including a first-inning grand slam. Mike Mayers (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth for the victory, and Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a solo home run to Jung Ho Kang in the ninth for his 16th save.
Kang had two home runs for Pittsburgh and Jordy Mercer hit a two-run double in the fifth as the Pirates took advantage of some sloppy defense by the Cardinals to overcome an early five-run deficit. Pittsburgh has dropped eight consecutive.
The Pirates came in reeling during their longest skid in two years, one that dropped them to the fringe of playoff contention. Opponents outscored them 47-22 during the slide, including a 12-6 setback on Monday night in which the Cardinals overpowered Pittsburgh's struggling pitching staff.
It looked like more of the same early Tuesday. The Cardinals loaded the bases against Ryan Vogelsong thanks in part to a moment of hesitation by first baseman John Jaso in which Jaso tried to throw out Kolten Wong at third rather than tag first for an easy out. Molina turned Vogelsong's next pitch into his first grand slam since 2012, the 25th consecutive game the Cardinals have homered, tying the 2016 San Diego Padres for the longest streak ever in the National League.
Matt Adams pounded Vogelsong's offering 436 feet over the stands in right in the second to put St. Louis up 5-0, but Pittsburgh scrapped back.
Jaso atoned with an RBI single in the second and Kang homered in the fourth to make it 5-2.
Reliever Matt Bowman entered for rookie Luke Weaver, pulled after four innings and 83 pitches, and quickly frittered the lead away for the Cardinals. His wild throw to second on an attempted double play gave Pittsburgh life. Gregory Polanco followed with an RBI single, Andrew McCutchen scored when Brandon Moss couldn't handle Matt Joyce's line drive and Mercer doubled to the left-field corner to give the Pirates just their second lead in a week.
It didn't last.
Watson, moved to the closer role after Pittsburgh sent All-Star Mark Melancon to Washington at the trade deadline, quickly retired the first two batters in the ninth and had Carpenter down 0-2 when Carpenter changed things completely with one swing.
NATIONALS 9, BRAVES 7 Pinch-runner Michael Taylor scored the go-ahead run on catcher Tyler Flowers' throwing error as part of a three-run eighth inning and host Washington defeated Atlanta.
METS 5, REDS 3 Yoenis Cespedes hit the most damaging of New York's four home runs, a two-run shot in the seventh inning, as the visiting Mets rallied for their 13th consecutive victory over Cincinnati.
PHILLIES 4, MARLINS 3 Adam Morgan snapped his major league-worst streak of nine consecutive losses, Odubel Herrera scored three runs and Philadelphia spoiled Giancarlo Stanton's return by beating host Miami.
BREWERS 12, CUBS 5 Jonathan Villar homered to start a five-run first inning against Jason Hammel, and Milwaukee cooled off visiting Chicago with a victory.
GIANTS 3, ROCKIES 2 Kelby Tomlinson hit a one-out, tiebreaking single in the ninth and San Francisco rallied to beat host Colorado.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 10, TWINS 3 Kendrys Morales had two home runs, including a three-run blast in Kansas City's seven-run ninth inning, that helped propel the Royals to a victory over host Minnesota even though Twins second baseman Brian Dozier hit his 39th home run.
YANKEES 7, BLUE JAYS 6 Brett Gardner made a leaping catch at the top of the left-field wall on Justin Smoak's bases-loaded drive for the final out, and New York held on during a tough ninth inning to beat visiting Toronto.
ORIOLES 11, RAYS 2 Manny Machado capped a six-run fourth inning with a grand slam off Jake Odorizzi, leading Baltimore over host Tampa Bay.
ASTROS 4, INDIANS 3 Corey Kluber lost for the first time since July 3 after Marwin Gonzalez connected for a three-run home run off Cleveland's ace in the second inning, leading visiting Houston to a victory.
WHITE SOX 2, TIGERS 0 Jose Abreu hit his fifth home run in seven games, Miguel Gonzalez came off the disabled list to throw 6 1/3 innings of six-hit ball and host Chicago cooled off Detroit.
Sports on 09/07/2016