Jedd Gyorko and Matt Carpenter hit back-to-back home runs to open the ninth inning as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals continued their hot August with a 5-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jose Martinez drove in a pair of runs and rookie starter Austin Gomber went five strong innings as the Cardinals improved to a National League-best 15-4 in August. St. Louis is now 22-11 under interim manager Mike Shildt, who took over after Mike Matheny was fired in July.
The Cardinals’ ninth-inning home runs came off Kenley Jansen (0-4), spoiling the return of the Dodgers’ closer, who went on the disabled list August 10 because of an irregular heartbeat.
Gyorko hit his 11th home run, while Carpenter hit his NL-leading 34th. Max Muncy had a game-tying, pinch-hit single in the seventh inning for the Dodgers, and Manny Machado had a run-scoring single in the fifth, giving him an RBIs in four of the team’s past six games.
The Dodgers fell to 8-10 in August, a stretch that has seen them fall from first place to third in the NL West.
Martinez hit a home run in the first inning, his 15th, and added an RBI single in the fifth to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. Patrick Wisdom had a bases-loaded walk in the fifth for the Cardinals.
Gomber gave up two runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his five career starts. Brett Cecil (1-1) recorded one out in the eighth to pick up the victory, and Bud Norris struck out three in the ninth inning for his 25th save.
The victory moved the Cardinals into a three-way tie for the second NL wild-card spot with the Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies. All three clubs are half-game behind the team holding the top NL wild-card position, the Milwaukee Brewers.
Justin Turner had two hits for the Dodgers to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active hitting streak in the major leagues.
Los Angeles starter Alex Wood lasted just four innings, giving up three runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts. It was just the third time in Wood’s past 12 starts that the left-hander has given up more than two earned runs.
A’s overpower Rangers 9-0
Right-hander Mike Fiers pitched well for the third consecutive game, and the Oakland Athletics supported their new pitcher with a four-homer, four-double assault on Texas Rangers pitching in an 9-0 romp Monday night in the opener on a three-game series in Oakland, Calif.
Ramon Laureano hit his first two career home runs, and Khris Davis belted his 38th, propelling the A’s to the 15th win in their past 19 games. Davis tied Boston’s J.D. Martinez for the major league home run lead.
The Athletics’ win coupled with the Astros’ 7-4 road loss to the Seattle Mariners allowed Oakland to move back into a tie with Houston for first place in the American League West. Fiers (9-6), acquired from the Detroit Tigers in a waiver deal after the July 31 deadline, allowed a leadoff double in the second inning by Nomar Mazara and no other hits over seven shutout innings, lowering his ERA since joining the A’s to 1.47.
He struck out eight and walked one while improving his record with the A’s to 2-0 in three starts.
Laureano, playing in just his 12th major league game, got the Oakland offense rolling in the second inning with a two-run homer off Rangers veteran Bartolo Colon (7-11).
The 24-year-old added a three-run shot that ended Colon’s night in the sixth, extending the Athletics’ lead to 7-0.
Colon, who was pushed back from a scheduled start over the weekend because of a sore back, was charged with seven runs on 10 hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out three.
Davis hit a leadoff homer in the third inning. It was his third long ball in two days, and his eighth in 14 games against the Rangers this season.
The bottom of the Oakland order did a majority of the damage, with Laureano, Stephen Piscotty, Marcus Semien and Jonathan Lucroy combining to go 11-for-17 with seven runs and seven RBIs.
Ryan Buchter and Shawn Kelley completed Oakland’s 11th shutout of the season with a combined two innings of two-hit relief.
Piscotty, Semien and Lucroy all had three hits, including a double apiece, for the A’s, who out-hit the Rangers 14-3.
Texas was opening a six-game trip after having completed a homestand with three wins in its last four games.
St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter (right) celebrates with first baseman Jose Martinez and shortstop Paul DeJong (left) after hitting a home run in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports
