Cardinals Flex Power, Marlins Beat Cubs

In a ballpark known to keep hitters at bay, the St. Louis Cardinals flexed their power at Safeco Field on Sunday.

Matt Carpenter and Tommy Pham each homered twice as the Cardinals went deep six times in an 11-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

"Nice to see the power show up" Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "This was a story about the offense, and we were hoping we would see it, happy we did."

Jedd Gyorko and Matt Holliday also homered for St. Louis, which tied a season-high with six long balls. Carpenter, Holliday, and Aledmys Diaz each had three hits as the Cardinals finished with 17 -- including 13 for extra bases.

Gyorko and Pham led off the seventh with back-to-back home runs against reliever Nick Vincent (1-7) to break a 6-6 tie. Holliday extended St. Louis' lead to 9-6 with a solo shot in the eighth against Edwin Diaz. Pham and Carpenter each hit their second home runs, both solo shots, in the ninth.

"They come in bunches it seems like," Pham said after hitting his first two of the season. "I'm just glad to be a part of it."

Kevin Siegrist (5-2) allowed one run on two hits in 1 1/3 inning to get the win.

Franklin Gutierrez tied the game at 6-6 with a three-run homer against Siegrist in the bottom of the sixth. A two-out single by Ketel Marte knocked St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia out of the game, and Gutierrez drilled a 1-1 fastball from Siegrist into the Mariners' bullpen in left field.

"It was definitely trending in their direction," Matheny said. "Just a shame that we couldn't hold on to that for Jaime. Got to a spot where they made the most of their opportunity and it definitely did shift the momentum."

Four straight extra-base hits helped the Cardinals erase Seattle's 3-1 in the fifth. Consecutive one-out doubles by Diaz, Holliday and Stephen Piscotty tied the score. Brandon Moss then put the Cardinals ahead with an RBI triple against Seattle starter James Paxton. An error by Kyle Seager capped the scoring and put the St. Louis ahead 5-3.

Carpenter extended St. Louis' lead to 6-3 with a solo home run in the sixth against reliever Donn Roach, his third extra-base hit of the afternoon.

Marlins 6, Cubs 1

When Jose Fernandez reached second base with a standup double, he looked to his dugout, pulled up his right sleeve and flexed his biceps.

He showed some muscle on the mound, too, and his teammates were no pushovers either against the Chicago Cubs.

Fernandez allowed one run in seven innings and struck out 13 to help Miami win the series finale Sunday, 6-1. The Marlins took three of four games from the faltering, injury-depleted Cubs.

"They've got a bunch of talent," Fernandez said. "They're a very tough team to beat, and that says a lot about our team and how bad we want it -- not caring what your record is, we're going to try to beat you."

The Marlins went 7-3 on their homestand. At 41-35, they're six games above .500 for the first time since June 2012, their first season in Marlins Park.

Miami outscored the Cubs 23-14.

"They're a banged-up club, but we played well," manager Don Mattingly said. "I don't think this in our minds is a need to prove anything; I think our guys already believe we can play with anybody. These guys believe in themselves that we can be a club that can contend."

The Cubs went 1-6 for the week but still have baseball's best record.

"It's like a fighter that cut a little bit -- you have to keep going," manager Joe Maddon said.

"We better call in reinforcements and call that panic button," first baseman Anthony Rizzo said facetiously. "We've put ourselves in a good position to go through these stretches. I'm not saying it's OK. I'm not saying it's fun. But it's a long season."

Facing Fernandez (10-3) can make for a long day, especially at Marlins Park, where he improved his career record to 24-1 with a 1.48 ERA.

The right-hander has been pretty good everywhere else, too. This year he has a 2.28 ERA and 138 strikeouts.

White Sox 5, Blue Jays 2

Pitching on a hot, muggy afternoon against one of the majors' best lineups, Chris Sale made it look easy.

Sale tossed eight innings of two-run ball to become the majors' first 13-game winner, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 on Sunday.

"When you get into a groove, you just try to ride it out as best you can," Sale said. "It was nice to get some quick outs and just try to roll with it."

Sale (13-2) allowed five hits, struck out seven and walked two in his fourth straight victory. The 6-foot-6 left-hander matched his win total from all of 2015 when he was 13-11.

Sale was working on a shutout before Troy Tulowitzki homered down the left-field line with one out in the eighth. After Kevin Pillar struck out, Junior Lake made it 4-2 with a drive to left-center.

"Everybody knows how good (Sale's) putaway pitches are," Tulowitzki said. "He was tough."

Tim Anderson and J.B. Shuck homered to help Chicago take two of three from slumping Toronto, which has dropped five of seven. The White Sox returned to .500 (38-38) with their fifth win in seven games.

Sunday, June 26 Scoreboard

Minnesota 7, New York Yankees 1

Cleveland 9, Detroit 3

Cincinnati 3, San Diego 0

Miami 6, Chicago Cubs 1

Baltimore 12, Tampa Bay 5

Atlanta 5, New York Mets 2

Chicago White Sox 5, Toronto 2

Washington 3, Milwaukee 2

Kansas City 6, Houston 1    

Texas 6, Boston 2

Los Angeles Angels 7, Oakland 6

San Francisco 8, Philadelphia 1

St. Louis 11, Seattle 6

Colorado 8, Arizona 7

Pittsburgh 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 3

Monday, June 27 Schedule (All Times Central)

Los Angeles Dodgers at Pittsburgh, 11:35 a.m.

Texas at New York Yankees, 6:05 p.m.

New York Mets at Washington, 6:05 p.m.

Cleveland at Atlanta, 6:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.

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

St. Louis at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

Toronto at Colorado, 7:40 p.m.

Philadelphia at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Houston at Los Angeles Angels, 9 p.m.

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