ST. LOUIS -- Miles Mikolas knew his luck would turn around.
Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter homered to back a strong outing by Mikolas and lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.
Mikolas (5-7) snapped a career-high losing streak of five consecutive decisions. He had not won a game since May 6 against Philadelphia.
In making his team-leading 15th start and second in a row against the Marlins, Mikolas went six innings. He scattered six hits and struck out four.
"It's nice to get the 'W' but any time the team gets a win I'm happy," Mikolas said. "I've had some tough losses but they've also bailed me out of a few. That's baseball."
Giovanny Gallegos pitched the seventh followed by a five-pitch eighth inning by John Gant. Jordan Hicks pitched the ninth to preserve the shutout.
It was the 13th time the Marlins have been shut out in their 45 losses this season.
Miami's Elieser Hernandez (0-2) was making his second start of the season, both against St. Louis. He gave up 5 hits while striking out 6 in 6 innings to take the loss.
St. Louis has won four of its last five games and six of its last eight. Miami has lost nine of its last 11 games.
Carpenter, who went 3-for-4, hit his 10th home run with one out in the third for a 1-0 St. Louis lead.
"It was a little bit higher," Hernandez said through an interpreter. "I made a mistake."
The Cardinals added their second run in the fifth. With two outs, Carpenter beat the shift by laying down a sharp bunt toward third. Hernandez ambled after it and a hustling Carpenter turned it into a double.
"I knew it was possible to get the double," Carpenter said. "It's a good feeling. I can't deny that. If you hit left-handed in this league, they're going to shift you."
Miami Manager Don Mattingly believed Hernandez should have prevented a double in that situation.
"I think Elieser's got to get that ball," Mattingly said. "It looked like he was just kind of trotting after it and lets it keep rolling. For me, he stops it."
Fowler hit a three-run home run in the eighth with two outs. The home run, his third in the last four games, scored Carpenter and DeJong. Fowler's home run gave him one against each team in the National League in his career.
BRAVES 12, METS 3 Mike Soroka won his eighth consecutive decision, Ozzie Albies homered and drove in four runs, and surging Atlanta beat visiting New York. Nick Markakis hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the fifth inning as the NL East-leading Braves improved to 13-3 in June, best in the majors this month. Atlanta has won 10 of its last 11. New York lost for the 12th time in 16 games away from Citi Field. Soroka's winning streak is the longest in the majors by a pitcher under 22 since Dontrelle Willis won the same number for the 2003 Florida Marlins. Soroka (8-1) gave up three runs, six hits and allowed just his third homer in 12 starts this year, a solo shot by Robinson Cano in the sixth. He walked one and struck out two in six innings. Wheeler (5-5) allowed 5 runs -- 4 earned -- and 10 hits in six innings.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 3, RAYS 0 Masahiro Tanaka pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts for his fourth major league shutout, and host New York beat Tampa Bay to increase their slim lead in the AL East. DJ LeMahieu hit a two-run home run off Yonny Chirinos, and Cameron Maybin (3 for 3) homered in his third consecutive game. That was all a dominant Tanaka (5-5) needed while throwing 76 of 111 pitches for strikes in his seventh complete game since coming over from Japan. Edwin Encarnacion received an enthusiastic ovation in his Yankees debut. Batting fifth as the designated hitter, the veteran slugger went 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
ANGELS 10, BLUE JAYS 5 Justin Upton homered on the first pitch he saw in his return from the injured list, Mike Trout had a solo home run among his four hits and visiting Los Angeles used a seven-run second inning to beat Toronto. Shohei Ohtani and Kole Calhoun also connected in the second for the Angels, who have won all four meetings with Toronto this season. Toronto rookie Cavan Biggio hit two home runs for the second multi-home run game of his brief career. Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer, but the Blue Jays lost for the eighth time in 11 games.
RANGERS 7, INDIANS 2 Lance Lynn had another quality start, Danny Santana homered and host Texas spoiled Mike Clevinger's return from the injured list. Lynn (8-4) struck out 9 without a walk and gave up one run over seven innings. Santana hit a two-run homer after Willie Calhoun's two-out walk in the fourth. Clevinger was done after consecutive two-out walks in the fifth, with both of those scoring to make it 5-1 when Elvis Andrus doubled on reliever Tyler Clippard's second pitch. Clevinger (1-1) struck out seven and walked three in his first start since April 7.
RED SOX 2, TWINS 0 Rick Porcello pitched seven shutout innings for visiting Boston to outduel Minnesota ace Jose Berrios. The Red Sox stretched their winning streak to a season-high six consecutive games. Porcello (5-6) allowed only four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. Berrios (8-3) struck out 10 batters in a season-most eight innings, with five hits and no walks allowed. An RBI single by J.D. Martinez in the first was the only run he allowed. Xander Bogaerts gave the Red Sox insurance with an RBI double in the ninth. Ryan Brasier pitched a 1-2-3 inning for his seventh save in 10 attempts.
INTERLEAGUE
REDS 3, ASTROS 2 Nick Senzel returned from an eye injury and drove in two runs and Luis Castillo pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, leading host Cincinnati over Houston. Castillo (7-1) allowed two singles and walked a career-high six batters, leaving with two on and no outs in the seventh. Shortstop Jose Peraza's throwing error let in a run, and Michael Brantley doubled home another. Closer Raisel Iglesias escaped an eighth-inning threat when Tony Kemp grounded out with runners on second and third. Manager David Bell made an unorthodox move to finish it, yanking Iglesias and bringing in Michael Lorenzen with a runner aboard to get the last two outs and his third save.
Sports on 06/18/2019