>>Cardinals Crush Pirates Behind DeJong’s Three Homers
(Pittsburgh, PA) — Paul DeJong went 4-for-4 with three home runs as the Cardinals crushed Pirates 14-8 in Pittsburgh. St. Louis had eight extra-base hits in the second inning, tying the MLB record. Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Knizner also went yard for St. Louis hitting his first major league home run. Adam Wainwright allowed four runs in five innings for the win. The Cards have won four in-a-row and 10 of their last 12 games. Starling Marte went 4-for-5 with three RBI for Pittsburgh. Jordan Lyles didn’t survive the second and took the loss. Pittsburgh has dropped 10 of its last 12.
Paul DeJong is the first #STLCards shortstop to homer three times in a game in Modern Day history (post 1900). pic.twitter.com/Zq63jlLKYD
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 25, 2019
Brad Keller allowed four singles over seven scoreless innings and collected his first career RBI as the Royals shut down the Braves 2-0 to sweep a two-game series at Atlanta. Bubba Starling doubled and scored the other run in the second inning on an error. Ian Kennedy pitched a spotless ninth to log his 19th save. Kansas City is 9-and-3 since the All-Star break. Julio Teheran gave up two unearned runs over six innings to absorb the loss. Freddie Freeman’s second-inning error proved costly, leading to both runs. Atlanta is 2-and-6 in its last eight.
>>Cubs Take Down Giants
(San Francisco, CA) — A trio of Cubs homered as they took down the Giants 4-1 in San Francisco. Javy Baez got things going in the first with a solo shot. Kris Bryant and Albert Almora Jr. also went yard as Chicago snapped a three-game skid. Kyle Ryan got the win in relief and Craig Kimbrel picked up his seventh save. Stephen Vogt drove in the lone run for San Francisco with a third-inning single. Tyler Beede gave up four runs over five-and-two-thirds to take the loss. The Giants had won three straight and 10 of its previous 11 games.
>>Brewers Avoid Sweep By Reds
(Milwaukee, WI) — Yasmani Grandal’s two-run single capped a three-run fifth inning as the Brewers edged the Reds 5-4 in Milwaukee. Keston Hiura hit a solo homer earlier in the fifth, while Ryan Braun belted a two-run shot in the first inning for the Crew, who avoided a three-game sweep. Matt Albers picked up the win and Freddy Peralta notched his first save. Josh VanMeter went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for Cincinnati, which had won three of its previous four. Lucas Sims surrendered five runs in less than five frames as he fell to 1-and-1 with the loss.