PHOENIX (AP) — Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols blasted two more homers, pushing his career total to 692 and helping St. Louis beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 16-7. It was a vintage night for the 42-year-old Pujols, who continues to hit like a man at least a decade younger. The 11-time All-Star hit solo homers in the second and fourth off D-backs lefty Madison Bumgarner, both to nearly the same spot in left-center seats. The Cardinals won their sixth straight game and 15 of their past 18.
CHICAGO (AP) — Willson Contreras hit an RBI single to cap a two-run rally in the 11th inning and the Chicago Cubs kept coming back, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 6-5 for their fifth straight win. Contreras had a two-run homer in the fifth. He hit his third home run in three games and 20th this year. The three-time All-Star is the first Cubs catcher to go deep 20 times in four seasons. The Cubs scored once in the ninth to tie, once more in the 10th to keep it even, and finally won in the 11th.
Elsewhere in the world of baseball:
NEW YORK (AP) — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole twice banged on the dugout roof, shouting in frustration and getting booed as scuffling New York lost for the 15th time in 19 games, beaten by the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2. Cole hadn’t given up a hit until the Blue Jays scored four times in the fifth, and his anger showed after the inning ended. The AL East-leading Yankees fell to 9-20 since entering the All-Star break with a 64-28 record. After holding a 15 1/2-game bulge on July 8, their margin over second-place Toronto is down to seven games. The Yankees have lost six straight series for the first time since 1995, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Matt Chapman homered for the Blue Jays, who have won four in a row.
Former major leaguer Bill Lee had stopped breathing after collapsing in the bullpen during an exhibition game this weekend, but paramedics and two shocks with a defibrillator helped resuscitate the 75-year-old pitcher. Town of Thunderbolt Administrator Bob Milie was at the Savannah Bananas on Friday night. Milie, who’s also a firefighter in the Georgia town a few miles from Savannah, told The Associated Press that without immediate help, he didn’t think Lee would have survived. Bananas president Jared Orton said one of Lee’s daughters with him and said he was in good spirits. Lee is a member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame. He was an All-Star in 1973 and started Game 7 of the 1975 World Series for Boston.
