ST. LOUIS — Entering Thursday night’s game with a chance to pull even for the National League’s top wild-card spot, the St. Louis Cardinals instead fell out of a tie for the second slot.
The Milwaukee Brewers pounded out 17 hits and routed St. Louis, 12-5, at Busch Stadium for their seventh win in their last eight games.
Hernan Perez led the onslaught with his second four-hit game in three days, driving in three runs. Orlando Arcia went 3-for-5 and scored three runs, while Martin Maldonado went 2-for-4, cracking a two-run homer that started a six-run sixth inning which put the game away.
Every Milwaukee starter delivered a hit except Ryan Braun, and he contributed to the offense with an RBI and a run scored. Even pitcher Junior Guerra joined in on the fun with a pair of hits, including a double.
Jaime Garcia lost his fourth straight start for the Cardinals, allowing five runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings with a walk and three strikeouts. St. Louis, which dropped to 30-38 at home, now trails the New York Mets by a half-game for the second wild card and San Francisco by a game for the first.
Yankees 5, Rays 4
NEW YORK — Rookie Tyler Austin homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting New York over Tampa Bay.
Austin quickly ended it by pulling a full-count fastball into the right-center field seats. Austin’s third home run and first career walk-off hit helped the Yankees win their fifth straight game and improved them to 11-4 in their last 15 contests.
Kevin Kiermaier had his first career multi-homer game and Steven Souza Jr. recorded his third for Tampa Bay. Brian McCann hit two solo home runs for the Yankees for his 14th career game with two homers.
Phillies 4, Nationals 1
WASHINGTON — Alec Asher pitched six shutout innings for his first major league victory and Peter Bourjos and Ryan Howard hit homers in the third inning as Philadelphia beat Washington.
The Nationals, who had won three in a row, lead the idle New York Mets by eight games in the National League East. The fourth-place Phillies beat Washington for the first time in 10 tries.
Asher, in his first big league start of the year and eighth overall, allowed two hits and one walk with no strikeouts before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh. Asher was aided by a number of line drive outs hit by the Nationals to Philadelphia outfielders.
Pirates 4, Reds 1
PITTSBURGH — Ivan Nova stayed unbeaten with Pittsburgh by limiting Cincinnati to six hits in a complete game and manager Clint Hurdle got his 500th win.
Nova was dominating at the start, giving up only one hit over the first five innings, as he improved to 5-0 with the Pirates since being dealt by the New York Yankees. The complete game was his second in his last four starts with the Pirates, as he beat the Houston Astros 7-1 on Aug. 24, and the fifth of his career.
The Reds’ only run in their ninth loss in 11 games came on Zack Cozart’s RBI single in the sixth, which stopped Cozart’s 0-for-14 streak. Nova threw 94 pitches, not walking any while striking out four.
Indians 10, Astros 7
CLEVELAND — Carlos Santana homered and Francisco Lindor had two hits and three RBI as Cleveland beat Houston at Progressive Field.
Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer pitched a shaky five innings to get the win. Cody Allen pitched the ninth to pick up his 26th save as the Indians earned a split of the four-game series.
Astros starter David Paulino, in his major league debut, took the loss.