Goldschmidt homers again as Cardinals sweep Pirates 6-3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt’s power streak helped lift the St. Louis Cardinals into a share of the NL Central lead for the first time since early May.
Goldschmidt homered in his career-high fourth straight game, lifting the Cardinals over Pittsburgh 6-3 on Thursday for a four-game sweep of the Pirates.
St. Louis (55-47) won for the eighth time in nine games to move into a tie with the idle Chicago Cubs atop the division. St. Louis last held the lead before play on May 7.
Goldschmidt drove in nine runs and had four of the Cardinals’ 12 home runs during the sweep.
Kolten Wong and Dexter Fowler also connected for St. Louis. Miles Mikolas (7-10) allowed three runs in six innings.
Pittsburgh has dropped 11 of 13. Pirates right-hander Joe Musgrove (7-9) was charged with five earned runs in five innings.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington ace Max Scherzer lasted five innings in his return from the injured list, and the Rockies beat the Nationals in a battle of worn-out bullpens.
Ian Desmond led off the ninth with a homer off 42-year-old Fernando Rodney (0-4), who pitched in both games of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Rodney then walked Charlie Blackmon, who advanced on a wild pitch and a single by David Dahl, and Daniel Murphy drove in Blackmon with a groundout.
Murphy homered and scored three times for the Rockies, who won for just the fourth time in their past 20 games. Jairo Diaz (3-2) got the win, and Wade Davis earned his 15th save.
Anthony Rendon hit a three-run drive for Washington, which wasted a chance to gain ground on first-place Atlanta in the NL East.
Scherzer had been sidelined by inflammation under his right shoulder. He struggled with his command at times in his first start since July 6.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob deGrom pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, sending the Mets to the win.
Todd Frazier hit a two-run double as New York built a four-run lead against Eric Lauer, the most runs the Mets have scored in the first inning during deGrom’s 160 starts.
DeGrom (6-7) struck out nine while extending his scoreless streak to 17 innings. The ace from the Sunshine State has a 1.86 ERA in 52 day games, best in the majors since at least 1913 for pitchers with at least 200 innings.
Mets closer Edwin Díaz entered for the ninth and was pulled after Manny Machado drilled a base hit off his left big toe. Díaz limped off the field, and X-rays were negative.
Lauer (5-8) was pulled after 2 1/3 innings.
