Peralta, Piscotty Power Cardinals To Victory

Jhonny Peralta picked a big time to end his homer drought, and then rookie Stephen Piscotty followed with a timely hit of his own.

Together, they combined for seven RBI and powered the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Thursday night.

The Cardinals trailed 3-0 in the fourth when Peralta hit a three-run homer into the center field bleachers, and Piscotty followed two pitches later with a blast into the left-center seats. The homer by Peralta, St. Louis' cleanup hitter, was his first since Aug. 1.

"I've been waiting for that one a long time," Peralta said.

"That was a huge home run," Piscotty said. "We get down early and really are just trying to get one run, and he comes through and you get all three right there. It takes the pressure off the offense."

St. Louis, a major league-best 97-56, went 41 games over .500 for the first time. The Cardinals have won five straight and hold a four-game lead over Pittsburgh in the NL Central.

Yankees 3, White Sox 2

On a night the New York Yankees honored one of their October greats, the big hit came from someone else with plenty of postseason success. Carlos Beltran lined three-run homer off White Sox ace Chris Sale, leading Michael Pineda and the Yankees past Chicago 3-2 Thursday in their push for a playoff spot.

"I'm enjoying the moment because I'm getting good results," Beltran said.

After a tribute to Yogi Berra in their first home game since the Hall of Famer died, the Yankees closed within three games of idle Toronto in the AL East. New York's magic number for clinching at least a wild-card berth was cut to five.

Beltran gave the Yankees a boost to begin their final homestand of the season. He connected in the third inning for his 18th homer, a line drive that a young boy in the front row of the left-field seats neatly gloved.

Pineda (12-8) gave up one run, on Trayce Thompson's homer, in six innings. He improved the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the AL, fanning six without a free pass.

Thursday, September 24 Scoreboard

Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Arizona 3

Pittsburgh 5, Colorado 4

Texas 8, Oakland 1

Baltimore 5, Washington 4

New York Yankees 3, Chicago White Sox 2

Tampa Bay 4, Boston 2

New York Mets 6, Cincinnati 4

Miami1, Philadelphia 0

St. Louis 7, Milwaukee 3

Kansas City 10, Seattle 4

Cleveland 6, Minnesota 3

San Diego 5, San Francisco 4

Friday, September 25 Schedule (All Times Central)

Pittsburgh at Chicago, 1:20 p.m.

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

Philadelphia at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

Minnesota at Detroit, 6:08 p.m.

Baltimore at Boston, 6:10 p.m.

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

Atlanta at Miami, 6:10 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 7:00 p.m.

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

Los Angeles at Colorado, 7:10 p.m.

Milwaukee at St. Louis, 7:15 p.m.

Seattle at Los Angeles, 9:05 p.m.

San Francisco at Oakland, 9:05 p.m.

Arizona at San Diego, 9:10 p.m.