Cardinals Step Out To Big First Inning, Cubs' Homers Provide Win

Jaime Garcia knew when he came to the plate to bat in the first inning that it looked like another good night for the St. Louis Cardinals. And it was.

The Cardinals batted around in a four-run first and went on to rout the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-1 on Tuesday night. Tommy Pham had his second career three-hit game and Garcia pitched six strong innings for the Cardinals.

Three days after his first three-hit game, Pham singled twice and got his second career triple. He scored three times.

Six players had RBI for the Cardinals, two apiece for Jhonny Peralta, Jason Heyward and Yadier Molina. The Cardinals' Peter Bourjos' got his first career pinch-hit home run.

Cubs 8, Giants 5

Kyle Schwarber, Miguel Montero and Starlin Castro all hit home runs in support of another solid outing from Jake Arrieta, and the Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants 8-5 Tuesday night for their sixth straight win.

Schwarber's towering, three-run homer in the third set the tone for the Cubs, who have won 21 of 25 games to pull 7 1/2 games ahead of the Giants for the second wild-card spot.

Arrieta (16-6) had his 13th consecutive quality start, the longest streak by a Cubs pitcher in 23 years. He allowed an unearned run on four hits in six-plus innings.

Arrieta, who took over the major-league lead for wins, walked one and struck out eight, lowering his ERA to 2.22, second in the NL behind Los Angeles Dodgers' Zack Greinke's 1.67.

White Sox 5, Red Sox 4

In Trayce Thompson's mind, baseball is baseball, no matter what level he happens to be playing at. That may explain the Chicago White Sox 24-year-old rookie outfielder's confident big league demeanor.

Thompson drove in three runs, including a go-ahead, two-run double, and the White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Thompson, who was called up Aug. 3 and is 12 of 23 from the plate while only playing sparingly, was 3 for 4 in Tuesday's win. He finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.

Tuesday, August 25 Scoreboard

Houston 15, New York Yankees 1

Washington 8, San Diego 3

New York Mets 6, Philadelphia 5

Los Angeles Angels 8, Detroit 7

Cleveland 11, Milwaukee 6

Colorado 5, Atlanta 1

Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Cincinnati 1

Miami 5, Pittsburgh 2

Minnesota 11, Tampa Bay 7

Toronto 6, Texas 5

Chicago White Sox 5, Boston 4

Kansas City 3, Baltimore 2

St. Louis 9, Arizona 1

Seattle 6, Oakland 5

Chicago Cubs 8, San Francisco 5

Wednesday, August 26 Schedule (All Times Central)

Houston at New York, 12:05 p.m.

Oakland at Seattle, 2:40 p.m.

New York at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Los Angeles at Detroit, 6:08 p.m.

Milwaukee at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Colorado at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Los Angeles at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Minnesota at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Toronto at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Boston at Chicago, 7:10 p.m.

Baltimore at Kansas City, 7:10 p.m.

St. Louis at Arizona, 8:40 p.m

Chicago at San Francisco, 9:00 p.m.