Cardinals Avoid Sweep, Cubs Lose To Phillies

Tommy Pham made the most of a rare start, giving his St. Louis Cardinals a needed boost. Pham hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the sixth inning, pinch-hitter Matt Adams added a two-run drive in a five-run eighth and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied to beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-2 Sunday and avoid getting swept in the four-game series.

"Just to be able to get a start and help the team out was a truly good feeling," said Pham, whose start on Sunday was his second in 10 games since striking out four times against Washington and Max Scherzer.

The Cardinals, on their worst stretch this season, had lost eight of 10 going into the series finale, and their division lead over Pittsburgh was down to 2 1/2 games. St. Louis then fell behind 2-0 on Todd Frazier's second-inning homer and Tucker Barnhart's fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

Phillies 7, Cubs 4

Ryan Howard can still hit right-handers. Howard homered and drove in three runs to help the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 7-4 Sunday.

The 2006 NL MVP may not get a chance to face lefties much the rest of this season after striking out in an important spot in the seventh, but he did the job early.

Howard had a sacrifice fly in the first and hit a two-run shot to right to give the Phillies a 4-1 lead in the third. It was Howard's first homer since Aug. 25 and 22nd this season.

Howard is batting .131 (13 for 99) with three homers and 40 strikeouts vs. lefties. He's hitting .255 (93 for 365) with 19 homers and 66 RBI against righties. Mackanin didn't pitch-hit for Howard in the seventh against lefty Clayton Richard (3-2) with a runner on third and one out. But he plans to do so in similar spots, depending on who is in the bullpen.

Pirates 7, Brewers 6

The Pittsburgh Pirates have just one off day in September and it comes in advance of a pivotal series, but it figures to be an enjoyable one.

Josh Harrison hit a winning single in the 11th inning, and the Pirates rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 Sunday and remain 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central race.

With the score 6-6, pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa singled off Tyler Thornburg (0-1) and advanced when left fielder Shane Peterson bobbled the ball for an error. Pinch-runner Pedro Florimon moved to third on Jordy Mercer's groundout, and Sean Rodriguez was hit by a pitch.

After a wild pitch advanced Rodriguez, Harrison lined a single to left. Harrison was playing because Starling Marte had a stomach flu.

Sunday, September 13 Scoreboard

New York Yankees 5, Toronto 0

St. Louis 9, Cincinnati 2

Washington 5, Miami 0

Boston 2, Tampa Bay 0 (F/13)

Cleveland 7, Detroit 2

New York Mets 10, Atlanta 7 (F/10)

Philadelphia 7, Chicago Cubs 4

Pittsburgh 7, Milwaukee 6 (F/11)

Minnesota 7, Chicago White sox 0

Texas 12, Oakland 4

Houston 5, Los Angeles Angels 3

San Francisco 10, San Diego 3

Colorado 3, Seattle 2

Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Arizona 3

Detroit 9, Cleveland 2

Baltimore 8, Kansas City 2

Monday, September 14 (All Times Central)

Boston at Baltimore, 6:05 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 6:05 p.m.

Kansas City at Cleveland, 6:10 p.m.

Miami at New York, 6:10 p.m.

New York at Tampa Bay, 6:10 p.m.

Houston at Texas, 7:05 p.m.

Oakland at Chicago, 7:10 p.m.

Detroit at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

San Diego at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Los Angeles at Seattle, 9:10 p.m.

Colorado at Los Angeles, 9:10 p.m.

Cincinnati at San Francisco, 9:15 p.m.