Sep 6, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Kansas City Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales (25) hits his second home run in the game in the ninth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins 10-3. Photo Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
PITTSBURGH — The St. Louis Cardinals lost an early five-run lead but rallied with three two-out homers in the ninth Tuesday at PNC Park for a 9-7 win over the reeling Pittsburgh Pirates, who lost their eight straight.
Matt Carpenter hit a two-out, 0-2 solo home run to right-center in the ninth to forge a 6-6 tie — establishing a major league record with St. Louis’ 15th pinch-hit homer of the season. After Yadier Molina doubled, Randel Grichuk hit a two-run shot to left, and Jhonny Peralta followed with a homer to right to make it 9-6.
That was enough to withstand Jung Ho Kang’s solo homer in the bottom of the ninth that made it 9-7.
All three Cardinals ninth-inning homers came off Pirates closer Tony Watson.
Brewers 12, Cubs 5
MILWAUKEE — Wily Peralta worked into the eighth inning and Milwaukee collected 15 hits — including home runs from Jonathan Villar and Ryan Braun — in a drubbing of National League Central-leading Chicago at Miller Park.
Peralta allowed four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out six to earn his second victory since being brought back from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Aug. 9.
Hernan Perez finished with four hits while Jonathan Villar Domingo Santana had three each and Braun finished with a pair along with four RBIs.
Nationals 9, Braves 7
WASHINGTON — Pinch-runner Michael A. Taylor scored the go-ahead run on an error in the last of the eighth and Washington broke a tie with three runs that inning to beat Atlanta.
The first-place Nationals remained 8 1/2 games ahead of the New York Mets in the National League East. The Braves lost for just the second time in eight games one day after being eliminated from postseason play. Atlanta is 2-13 against Washington this year.
The winning pitcher was Koda Glover, who retired his only two batters in the eighth, while Ramirez suffered the loss. Closer Mark Melancon pitched the ninth and recorded his ninth save while with the Nationals despite allowing an RBI single to Dansby Swanson.
Orioles 11, Rays 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Manny Machado hit a grand slam in the fourth inning, leading Baltimore over Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field.
The Orioles have won four of their last five and moved within one game of first-place Toronto, which lost 7-6 to the New York Yankees on Tuesday, in the American League East.
The Rays have dropped three straight as they close out a six-game homestand on Wednesday afternoon.
Mets 5, Reds 3
CINCINNATI — Yoenis Cespedes hit a go-ahead two-run homer in seventh, one of four home runs hit by New York in a victory over Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park.
Jose Reyes, Curtis Granderson, and Alejandro De Aza also went deep for New York.
Adam Duvall hit his 30th home run of the season for Cincinnati, which has dropped 13 straight to the Mets dating to Sept. 7, 2014.
Astros 4, Indians 3
CLEVELAND — Marwin Gonzalez’s three-run home run off Corey Kluber in the second inning was the difference as Houston beat Cleveland at Progressive Field.
Kluber suffered his first loss since July 3. In 10 starts between losses he was 7-0 with a 1.94 ERA. Houston did all of its scoring in the second and third innings, but Kluber was otherwise very effective. He retired the last 10 men he faced.
In seven innings Kluber struck out nine, walked three and allowed four runs on four hits — none of them singles. The home run by Gonzalez and an RBI triple by Alex Bregman accounted for all of the Astros’ runs.
Yankees 7, Blue Jays 6
NEW YORK — Didi Gregorius hit the game-tying triple and scored the go-ahead run on Starlin Castro’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as New York held on for a victory over Toronto.
Gregorius, who had been in a 1-for-22 slump before his triple, helped give the Yankees their ninth win in 13 games. New York remained 3 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the second wild card spot.
The Yankees added two crucial runs when Chase Headley hit a two-run homer into the right-center field bleachers.
Phillies 4, Marlins 3
MIAMI — Adam Morgan snapped a nine-game losing streak and Odubel Herrera scored three runs to lead Philadelphia over Miami at Marlins Park.
Ichiro Suzuki pulled a two-run homer to right in the eighth inning to cut the Phillies’ lead to 4-3. It was the first pinch-hit homer of a Suzuki career that includes more than 3,000 hits.
But the Marlins could get no closer, and Jeanmar Gomez worked around a walk and an error in the ninth to earn his 35th save of the season. He struck out Dee Gordon looking for the final out of the game.
White Sox 2, Tigers 0
CHICAGO — Jose Abreu homered for the fifth time in seven games and Miguel Gonzalez pitched into the seventh inning in his first start since coming off the disabled list as Chicago beat Detroit.
Detroit put two on in the ninth. A replay review ruled that J.D. Martinez hit the ball foul rather than smacking his 21st home run to start the inning against David Robertson. Martinez reached on a single that narrowly beat the thrown from shortstop Tim Anderson. After striking out Justin Upton, Robertson walked Erick Aybar. Jarrod Saltalamacchia popped out and pinch hitter Tyler Collins struck out as Robertson earned his 34th save in 41 chances.
Chicago won just three of its last nine, but Detroit fell to 12-6 against the White Sox this season.
Royals 10, Twins 3
MINNEAPOLIS — Kansas City scored seven runs in the ninth inning to break a tie game in a victory over Minnesota at Target Field.
The Royals loaded the bases with nobody out against Twins closer Brandon Kintzler before Drew Butera’s one-out single through the hole between first and second scored the eventual winning run.
Two batters later, Paulo Orlando rolled a two-run single to right field, giving Kansas City a three-run lead.
Eric Hosmer followed with an RBI single before Kendrys Morales provided the final blow, a massive three-run blast into the bullpen in left-center field. It was the second home run of the night and third in two games for the former Twin, who knocked in five runs and has 25 homers this season.
Brian Dozier homered again for the Twins, his 25th since the All-Star break and seventh in September.
Giants 3, Rockies 2
DENVER — Their offense was again marginal, but San Francisco scored an unearned run in the ninth to beat Colorado.
Buster Posey led off that inning and reached second base when shortstop Daniel Descalso fielded his routine grounder and threw the ball over first baseman Gerardo Parra. Hunter Pence put runners on the corners with an infield single off Adam Ottavino, hitting a slow chopper to Descalso and just beating his throw.
Boone Logan came on and struck out Brandon Crawford. But Kelby Tomlinson lined Logan’s 0-2 fastball to left for single, scoring Posey.
