ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nolan Arenado homered, pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter delivered a tiebreaking double and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2. Yadier Molina had an early two-run single for the Cardinals, who reached .500 for the 21st time this season. They have won 16 of their last 22 against Kansas City. St. Louis starter Kwang Hyun Kim allowed two runs and three hits on 83 pitches over four innings. Luís García had three strikeouts in two shutout innings for his first major league win since Aug. 29, 2019, with the Angels against Boston. Ryan Helsley and Génesis Cabrera each tossed a scoreless inning before Giovanny Gallegos worked the ninth for his second save.
Elsewhere in the MLB:
— The Philadelphia Phillies now own their longest winning streak in nine years, allowing them to climb to the top of the NL East standings. Brad Miller homered twice and Odubel Herrera added a three-run blast as the Phillies earned their seventh consecutive win, 5-3 over the Mets. Philadelphia enjoyed a 5-0 lead until Michael Conforto, Jonathan Villar and James McCann started the ninth with consecutive homers. Ian Kennedy entered the game and faced the potential go-ahead run at the plate before fanning Pete Alonso and J.D. Davis to end it. New York has dropped eight of 10 and is 1 ½ games behind the NL East-leading Phillies, exactly one week after topping the Phils by 4 ½ games. Atlanta is two games behind the Phillies after the Braves’ bullpen allowed three runs in the ninth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Nationals. Riley Adams hit his first big league homer, a go-ahead, two-run blast that ended Washington’s five-game losing streak. The Nats came back after Charlie Morton held them to three hits while striking out seven over six innings.
— Chris Taylor doubled home a pair of runs in the eighth inning to lift the Dodgers over the Angels, 5-3. The Dodgers trailed 3-2 going into the seventh inning before Cody Bellinger tied it with a solo shot to right. Kenley Jansen retired the side in order in the ninth for his 23rd save as the Dodgers stayed four games behind the NL West-leading Giants.
— Brandon Belt slammed his second homer of the night during a four-run outburst in the 11th inning of the Giants’ 9-6 comeback over the Brewers. Each team scored three runs in the 10th after the Giants tied it on a bizarre two-out triple in the ninth. LaMonte Wade put the Giants ahead for good in the 11th with a one-out single that scored Austin Slater.
— Manny Machado provided the go-ahead single in a four-run eighth that pushed the Padres past the Diamondbacks, 6-1. Yu Darvish had to settle for a no-decision after holding Arizona to two runs and four hits while matching a season-high with 12 strikeouts over seven innings. Pinch-hitter Austin Nola capped the late rally with a two-run single.
— Jesse Winker went 3 for 5 with a homer, a double, and six RBIs to highlight the Reds’ 11-3 thumping of the Pirates. Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto also homered in support of Vladimir Gutierrez, who allowed a run over six innings to earn the victory. Cincinnati has won 14 of their past 15 games against Pittsburgh.
— The Yankees erased a 4-1 deficit by scoring four times in the sixth inning of their third straight win over the Mariners, 5-4. Rougned Odor pulled the Yanks within 4-3 with a two-run homer in New York’s 10th win in 12 games. Kyle Higashioka followed with an RBI double and scored on a daring base-running play while DJ LeMahieu forced a rundown between first and second.
— The Blue Jays took Game 1 of a twin bill by downing the Red Sox, 1-0 on Marcus Semien’s walk-off homer in the seventh inning. The Jays managed just two hits in improving to 8-1 in Toronto since returning to Canada last weekend.
— The Red Sox had lost eight of nine before taking the nightcap as Jonathan Arauz delivered a tiebreaking single in the eighth to give them a 2-1 win at Toronto. Alex Verdugo tied it with a sixth-inning homer off Juan Berrios, who gave up four other hits over six frames. The doubleheader split leaves the Sox three games behind the AL East-leading Rays, with the Blue Jays seven games back.
— The Rays are 10-1 versus the Orioles this year after Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam and Nelson Cruz homered for the second time in two nights to lead a 12-3 romp in Baltimore. Cruz has four home runs and 10 RBIs in 12 games since being acquired from Minnesota on July 22. Yandy Diaz and Wander Franco also went deep for Tampa Bay, and Shane McClanahan allowed three runs and five hits with eight strikeouts over a career-high seven innings.
— Carlos Rodón pitched a two-hit ball and struck out 11 over five-plus innings as the White Sox dumped the Cubs, 4-0. Cesar Hernandez and José Abreu hit solo homers for the White Sox, who also got a two-run double from Yoán Moncada. Four relievers finished up the five-hit shutout.
— The Astros’ three-game skid is over after Yordan Alvarez hit the 50th home run of his career and rookie Luis Garcia’s two-hit ball over six innings of a 4-0 shutout of the Twins. Alvarez is the fastest player in Houston history to reach 50 home runs, doing it in his 184 career game. Aledmys Díaz added a two-run double in the eighth as the AL West leaders stayed three games ahead of Oakland.
— Matt Olson matched a career high with four hits as the A’s dealt the Rangers their 13th consecutive road loss, 12-3. Olson and Matt Chapman delivered two-run doubles while Oakland erupted for seven runs in the third inning to erase a 2-0 deficit. Yan Gomes added a three-run homer and four RBIs to support Cole Irvin, who worked seven innings and settled down following a two-run homer by Adolis Garcia three batters into the game.
— Tyler Alexander tossed a season-high 5 1/3 scoreless innings as the Tigers edged the Indians, 2-1. Alexander allowed four hits without issuing a walk in his seventh appearance since moving into the rotation. Miguel Cabrera went 0 for 3 with a walk, keeping him two shy of 500 career home runs.
— Austin Gomber rebounded from his shortest start of the season to strike out a career-high nine in the Rockies’ 7-4 downing of the Marlins. Gomber allowed five hits, didn’t walk a batter, and struck out the last four he faced. Connor Joe drove in a career-high four runs with a sacrifice fly in the second, an RBI double in the fourth, and a two-run single in the fifth.
