Carpenter's Homer Means More Than Win For Cardinals, Cubs Down Pirates

By ESPN

Matt Carpenter rounded the bases after his two-run shot, looked up and pointed two fingers toward the night sky as he touched the plate.

It was a rather meaningless homer in terms of the game, extending a big lead for the St. Louis Cardinals in what ended up being a 10-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.

It meant so much more for what it would cost Carpenter. The Galveston, Texas native followed through in his first game after pledging $10,000 for every home run that he hit the rest of the season to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

"I was kind of nervous about the expectations," Carpenter said. "To be able to do it the first night, get one out of the way and see that money go for a good cause, I'm glad I was able to do that."

Teammate Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals organization also have pledged to match Carpenter's long-ball donations for hurricane relief efforts. So that fifth-inning drive off a 1-1 pitch from Carlos Torres meant a total pledge of $30,000 to aid flood victims.

"Happy to see him write that check. Hope he keeps doing it every night," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

St. Louis chased Matt Garza (6-8) with one out in the fourth. The right-hander walked five and allowed six runs, though only three were earned after the Brewers committed two errors in the third.

"The third inning we could have minimized that damage, but obviously defensively not getting those outs gave them some extra chances," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said.

The loss dropped the second-place Brewers to 3 1/2 games back of the NL Central-leading Cubs, who won on Tuesday. The Cardinals remained in third, five games back of Chicago.

Cubs 4, Pirates 1

 By his own admission, Jake Arrieta, wasn't at his best Tuesday night. He still was good enough.

Arrieta continued his dominant second half with six innings of two-hit ball, Ben Zobrist homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1.

Arrieta (14-8) struck out four and retired the last seven batters he faced, leaving after 97 pitches with a 3-0 lead. He hasn't allowed more than two earned runs in any of his nine starts since the All-Star break, going 6-1 with a 1.59 ERA during that span.

"I feel confident that even if I don't have my good stuff, or if I'm without two pitches, the two pitches I have are more than enough to get the job done," he said.

"He wasn't on top of his game completely, and he knew that," manager Joe Maddon said. "He did his job tonight."

Anthony Rizzo went 3 for 4 with an RBI, Alex Avila had an RBI single and Jason Heyward added a sacrifice fly for NL Central-leading Chicago, which stretched its lead over second-place Milwaukee to 3 1/2 games.

John Jaso went 2 for 2 with a homer and reached in all four plate appearances for Pittsburgh.

Chad Kuhl (6-10) matched Arrieta through five innings but ran into trouble immediately in the sixth. His first pitch was a 95 mph fastball down the middle that Zobrist hit into the bleachers in right center.

"It was down, just in the middle (of the plate)," Kuhl said. "In a bunch of different counts, he may not take you deep. I just wanted to start the inning (with a strike), so you tip your cap."

Kyle Schwarber followed with a walk and Rizzo doubled one out later. After Tommy LaStella was intentionally walked to load the bases, Avila singled to score Schwarber.

Heyward stretched the lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly against reliever A.J. Schugel.

Jaso's solo homer in the seventh off Koji Uehara made it 3-1.

Rizzo gave the Cubs an insurance run in the eighth with his 200th career double.

That was enough support for Arrieta, who has turned around his season following a slow start.

"In the first half, I wasn't able to limit damage and either preserve a lead or keep us in a ballgame," he said. "I've been able to make some adjustments, make some changes and do some things a little differently, and it's paid off.

"Regardless of where I am in the count, I feel like I can execute the next pitch and get weak contact or get back in counts."

Twins 6, White Sox 4

After a rough summer, Jorge Polanco has ramped up his production at the right time for the Minnesota Twins.

From both sides of the plate and with both sides of his game.

Polanco homered twice, Ervin Santana struck out seven while pitching into the seventh inning and the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Tuesday.

"He's doing everything right now," Santana said in praise of Polanco, who made a diving stop of Tim Anderson's groundball to start an inning-ending fielder's choice in the second.

Eduardo Escobar also drove in two runs for the Twins, who took a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels into the night in the crowded race for the second AL wild card. Santana (14-7) matched his highest victory total since he was a 17-game winner 2010 with the Angels.

Only six games are left on Minnesota's schedule against teams on pace for the playoffs. Including the White Sox this week, the Twins are facing six opponents in the other 26 games with losing records and a combined 70 games under .500 entering play on Tuesday.

Boosted by a surge of production from their promising young hitters and buoyed by the steadiness of veteran starters Santana and Bartolo Colon, the Twins are 18-10 this month. Polanco, who hit just .148 with five extra-base hits over 115 at-bats in June and July, has been the latest to contribute.

"He's been a real important part of our team the way he's swinging the bat and playing defense," manager Paul Molitor said.

Polanco is hardly a power hitter, but try telling that to the White Sox. They've surrendered eight of his 13 career home runs.

"He's got some juice from both sides of the plate, obviously," manager Rick Renteria said.

Jose Abreu went 4 for 4 with a walk and two RBI for the White Sox, who fell to 4-17 in their last 21 road games. Abreu's single in the ninth put the tying run at the plate, but Matt Belisle escaped for his fifth save.

James Shields (2-5) has not won for the White Sox in 10 starts. He's been better this month, thanks in part to an alteration of his arm angle, but this was a mediocre output with five hits and five walks allowed in five innings. He left with a 4-0 deficit.

In the first inning, Shields cost himself defensively. Eddie Rosario's comebacker could've been a double play, but Shields threw high to the shortstop Anderson covering second base to disrupt his rhythm and only get one out as a run scored. Rosario moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Byron Buxton's single.

"Sometimes when you're in the middle of the action, you go a little bit too quick," Shields said.

Tuesday, August 29 Scoreboard

Baltimore 4, Seattle 0

Washington 8, Miami 3

Boston 3, Toronto 0

Cincinnati 14, New York Mets 4

Texas 12, Houston 2

St. Louis 10, Milwaukee 2

Chicago  Cubs 4, PIttsburgh 1

Minnesota 6, Chicago White Sox 4

Kansas City 6, Tampa Bay 2

Colorado 7, Detroit 3

Arizona 7, Los Angeles Dodgers 6

Los Angeles Angels 8, Oakland 2

San Diego 6, San Francisco 3

Cleveland at New York Yankees, postponed

Atlanta at Philadelphia, postponed

Wednesday, August 30 Schedule (All Times Central)

Atlanta at Philadelphia, 11:05 a.m.

Cleveland at New York Yankees, 12:05 p.m.

St. Louis at Milwaukee, 1:10 p.m.

Seattle at Baltimore, 2:05 p.m.

Detroit at Colorado, 2:10 p.m.

Atlanta at Philadelphia, 2:35 p.m.

Miami at Washington, 3:05 p.m.

Cleveland at New York Yankees, 3:35 p.m.

Texas at Houston, 6 p.m.

Boston at Toronto, 6:07 p.m.

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

Pittsburgh at Chicago Cubs, 7:05 p.m.

Chicago White Sox at Minnesota, 7:10 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Kansas City, 7:15 p.m.

San Francisco at San Diego, 8:10 p.m.

Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona, 8:40 p.m.

Oakland at Los Angeles Angels, 9:07 p.m.