Molina drove in two runs and Matt Carpenter had two hits for the Cardinals, who have begun a 10-game trip with a pair of losses.
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Together, they helped produce all the San Francisco Giants’ scoring in an 8-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals that resulted in a second consecutive win in the key four-game series.
Buster Posey broke a 184 at-bat homer-less streak when he launched a first-pitch fastball to left field.
“I’m having bad luck”, Casilla said. It became dire with two losses to the Giants, and it was more of the same as Samardzija left the game with a 2-1 lead against the Cardinals and Mike Leake.
San Francisco also moved a game in front of the idle New York Mets and two up on the Cardinals in the chase for the two NL wild cards.
Giants starter Jeff Samardzija allowed 1 run and 5 hits with 4 strikeouts and 4 walks over 6 2/3 innings. Ryan Howard hit his 22nd homer of the season to spark a three-run rally for the Phillies in the sixth.
“It was a good feeling”, he said. Hunter Pence singled, Belt laced a two-run double and Brandon Crawford smacked an RBI single, completing the six-run uprising, with all of the runs unearned.
“Just some great at-bats late”, Matheny said. “It’s kind of out of the ordinary with him”.
Giants: LHP Matt Moore (3-4, 4.05) will face the Cardinals for the first time in his career. “Sometimes you can’t put your finger on it, but there seems to be a really good energy in the dugout”. He won for the fourth time over five starts in his ninth outing since joining San Francisco in a trade with Tampa Bay. None of these series should be deemed a cake walk by any means, but given the rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers (and the fact that both teams could potentially still claim the NL West crown), and San Francisco’s recent troubles with San Diego, their schedule may play tougher than St. Louis’. He didn’t dominate, he didn’t baffle, he didn’t overwhelm as, Johnny Cueto did on Thursday night.
Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday and is unlikely to pitch again this season because of an injury to the ulnar nerve in his right elbow. The Cardinals also don’t have to worry about a division race like the Giants do, and may be able to line up their rotation the way they want for that game rather than fight until the end. The Giants have had World Series-winning seasons in every even year this decade: 2010, ’12 and ’14.
Weaver spun a four strike-out, scoreless first two innings and a familiar picture started to paint itself. In the fifth, Samardzija came up with two on and no outs and hit a sacrifice fly to right.
Yadier Molina drove in both runs for the Cardinals, including a bases-loaded walk in the fifth.
His team slumping and showing signs of fatigue, Giants manager Bruce Bochy cancelled batting practice Thursday and told players not to report until about two hours before game time. “The standings are the standings and we know what they are”.
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As for their offense, well, the Giants were 11th in the majors in runs scored (4th in the NL) at the All-Star break – and they’re 29th, second to last, since then.
