Mikolas wins again, Carpenter homers again as Cards edge Marlins

[August 08, 2018]    Matt Carpenter pulled a tie-breaking homer over the right-field fence in the eighth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to beat the host Miami Marlins 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (39) delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Cardinals All-Star right-hander Miles Mikolas (12-3) earned the win, allowing five hits, no walks and two runs in seven innings.

Mikolas, who grew up less than two hours from Marlins Park, struck out just one batter but got 14 ground-ball outs.

Carpenter, who moved into the National League lead with his 30th home run, hit a 3-2 fastball off of reliever Elieser Hernandez (2-6). Carpenter became the first major leaguer this year to reach 30 homers and 30 doubles.

It was Carpenter's 11th homer since the All-Star break -- the rest of his Cardinals team has just 10 during that span. Carpenter also leads the majors with 20 road homers.

In addition, Carpenter, with that homer, extended his reached-base streak to 26 games, the longest active run in the majors.

St. Louis was got a two-run homer from Paul DeJong, his 10th of the season.

Marlins rookie right-hander Pablo Lopez led 2-0 in the seventh but settled for a no-decision after allowing DeJong's homer. Lopez went a career-best seven innings, allowing four hits, one walk and two runs, striking out five.

Miami opened the scoring with one run in the first. Derek Dietrich hit a leadoff single to center, advanced on a swinging bunt by Brian Anderson and scored on Justin Bour's two-out single to center.

The Marlins stretched their lead to 2-0 in the fifth. JT Riddle pulled a triple down the right-field line, and Miguel Rojas hit the next pitch for an RBI single past the left side of a drawn-in infield.

St. Louis tied the score 2-2 in the seventh on DeJong's home run. Jedd Gyorko started the rally with a one-out walk, and DeJong followed by pulling a curve down the left-field line.

After Carpenter gave St. Louis the lead, Dakota Hudson and Bud Norris each pitched a scoreless inning to give the Cardinals the win. It was Norris' 22nd save of the season, a career high.

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.