PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Flaherty pitched six solid innings to keep his record perfect and Paul DeJong hit a three-run homer in the first inning to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 12-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Flaherty struck out nine while winning his fifth consecutive start. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks and improved to 7-1 in 10 career starts against the Pirates. DeJong’s homer off Trevor Cahill capped a four-run first. St. Louis won for the seventh time in nine games.
On other MLB fields:
— Tim Anderson launched a grand slam and Leury (lay-OOR’-ee) García drove in three runs from the No. 9 spot in the lineup, sending the White Sox past the Indians, 7-1. Lance Lynn allowed three runs over five innings in his return from the injured list for Chicago, which has won seven of nine.
— Andrew Benintendi (behn-ihn-TEHN’-dee) homered twice and Danny Duffy allowed a run over seven innings as the Royals hammered the Twins, 11-3. Salvador Perez homered and drove in three runs to help Kansas City improve to an AL-best 16-9.
— Isiah Kiner-Falefa (KY’-nur fuh-LEH’-fuh) homered and had an RBI triple among his trio of hits as the Rangers dumped the Red Sox, 8-6. Willie Calhoun’s three hits for Texas included a two-run homer.
— Matt Harvey won his third straight start and the Orioles took advantage of Oakland’s sloppy play to score six runs in the third inning of an 8-4 win. The Athletics made two errors and threw a pair of wild pitches to help Baltimore break loose before DJ Stewart added a two-run home run in the sixth.
— Jose Urquidy (ur-KEE’-dee) scattered four hits over seven shutout innings of the Astros’ 3-1 victory against the Rays. Houston scored three times in the first inning as Alex Bregman hit an RBI single and Yuli Gurriel had a two-run single in the Astros’ eighth win in 10 games since a 1-9 skid.
— Jacob Walsh homered in back-to-back innings while the Angels were building an 8-0 lead in a 10-5 dismantling of the Mariners. Mike Trout homered for the 28th time in Seattle, and Anthony Rendon (rehn-DOHN’) contributed a two-run double and a two-run homer.
— Travis Shaw’s RBI single capped the Brewers’ three-run 11th in a 6-5 comeback over the Dodgers. Shaw also homered in Milwaukee’s third straight win over Los Angeles.
— Dom Nuñez belted a grand slam and the Rockies banged out 18 hits in a 14-6 romp over the Diamondbacks. Trevor Story had three hits that included a two-run homer, and Ryan McMahon drove in four for Colorado.
— Blake Snell earned his first win as a Padre, backed by Manny Machado’s early three-run homer in a 6-2 victory over the Giants. Pinch-hitter Jurickson Profar (JUR’-ihk-sehn PROH’-fahr) connected on a solo homer in the eighth inning and Jake Cronenworth added a two-run single as San Diego pulled away.
— Nick Hoerner poked a go-ahead single in the sixth inning and the Cubs’ bullpen shut down the Reds in a 3-2 win. Hoerner drove in Javier Báez with one of his three hits, a two-out single to center field off reliever Sean Doolittle to complete Chicago’s rally from a 2-0 deficit.
— The Mets coughed up a 4-0 lead before Michael Conforto hit a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning of a 5-4 triumph over the Phillies. Conforto also had a two-run double in a four-run first inning against former teammate Zack Wheeler, but the Phils tied it in Alec Bohm’s (bohmz) two-run blast.
— The Blue Jays came away with a 6-5 win over Atlanta on Randal Grichuk (GRIH’-chuhks) RBI single in the 10th inning. George Springer hit his first two homers with Toronto, including a tying, solo blast in the seventh.
— Patrick Corbin owned a 10.47 ERA before ending his 10-game losing streak that dated to last season, pitching seven solid innings in the Nationals’ 7-2 win over the Marlins. Josh Bell hit a bases-loaded double and drove in four runs, Yan Gomes (yahn gohmz) had a two-run homer and Josh Harrison had three hits as Washington won its third straight.
