Cards maul Phils behind Mikolas, 3 HRs

[May 07, 2019]  Yadier Molina went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, and Miles Mikolas pitched seven shutout innings as the St. Louis Cardinals halted a four-game skid with a 6-0 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.

Matt Carpenter and Paul DeJong also slugged homers for St. Louis, which improved to 13-4 at home.

Mikolas (4-2) faced just one hitter over the minimum while winning for the third time in his past four starts. He gave up three hits, struck out five and walked none.

John Brebbia worked 1 1/3 innings and fellow right-hander Jordan Hicks struck out both batters he faced to end the game.

Philadelphia had just one at-bat all night with a runner in scoring position.

Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez (1-2) served up all three homers and allowed five runs and four hits in four-plus innings. Velasquez walked five and struck out three.

Phillies slugger Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to drop his average to .226, his lowest mark since after the season's second game.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning.

Jose Martinez drew a one-out walk against Velasquez, and Molina followed by launching a 2-2 fastball 402 feet over the fence in left-center field.

St. Louis tacked on four runs in the fifth inning, beginning when Carpenter hit a knee-high fastball that barely cleared the fence in left-center to make it 3-0.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) hits a two run home run off of Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Vince Velasquez (not pictured) during the fourth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Goldschmidt followed with a rocket liner that got over Phillies second baseman Cesar Hernandez for a single. DeJong then slugged a two-run blast into the seats in right-center to make it a five-run margin and end Velasquez's night.

Right-handed reliever Edgar Garcia entered to make his major league debut and retired the first batter he faced. Garcia then allowing back-to-back singles to Martinez and Molina. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base, and Martinez scored on Kolten Wong's fly to left.

Brebbia allowed two runners to reach in the eighth before retiring Nick Williams on a grounder. He gave up another hit in the ninth.

--Field Level Media

[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.