By the time right fielder Hunter Pence got it in, Piscotty, who said he had trained hard in the offseason to increase his quickness, had his first big-league triple, a day after he had hit his first big-league homer. After an intentional walk to Brandon Moss, Piscotty scored when shortstop Brandon Crawford tried to turn Mark Reynolds’ chopper to short into a double play himself.
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The right-hander has allowed two runs in 20 innings while winning his last three starts and outdueled another 14-game victor, Pittsburgh’s Gerrit Cole, in a 4-2 victory Wednesday.
Carpenter is hitting. 368 with eight homers and 15 RBIs in the last 18 games overall.
“Michael was terrific”, said manager Mike Matheny. “He made a nice play on a tough hop, and the throw just got away from him”.
St. Louis broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the fourth when catcher Yadier Molina blasted his third homer, a 403-foot shot that reached the third deck in left field. Wacha scattered three hits over six scoreless frames in his lone career regular-season start against San Francisco but served up three runs while recording one out in relief at the Giants during Game 5 of the 2014 NLCS last fall.
Kevin Siegrist (4-0) pitched a clean eighth to earn the win for the Cardinals (76-42), and closer Trevor Rosenthal picked up his 37th save in 39 opportunities, retiring pinch-hitter Buster Posey for the final out on a fly ball that center fielder Peter Bourjos chased down at the wall.
St. Louis has a league-high 75 wins on the season and they lead the division by five full games over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
For the 16th time this season, the Cardinals registered at least two errors in a game.
Wacha failed to become the first 15-game victor in the majors despite a good outing. The game is crucial for the Giants, who trail the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West by 2 and a half games with 45 left on the schedule.
Hellickson (9-8) allowed one run and three hits in 51/3 innings while striking out four and walking one. The Giants were unsuccessful the last time Heston pitched. The Cardinals recalled OF Tommy Pham from Triple-A Memphis to replace Grichuk.
San Francisco took five games to dispatch St. Louis before claiming its third championship in five seasons but has some work to do to make this year’s playoffs.
Randal Grichuk’s status for St. Louis is unknown because of right elbow tightness, and the outfielder is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday. It was Molina’s first homer since June 19 in Philadelphia.
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Rookie Colin Rea won his second straight start and Will Venable hit a two-run single to help the San Diego Padres beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 on Monday night.
