Molina homers twice to lead Cardinals past Phillies 9-4

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Yadier Molina hit two home runs, doubled and drove in four runs, and Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong also homered in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 9-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

St. Louis won for just the second time in its last seven games while finding offense that had been missing in the defeats. The Cardinals averaged 2.6 runs in their last five losses.

Rhys Hoskins had three hits and Alec Bohm drove in two runs for the Phillies, who played without Bryce Harper. The Phillies star outfielder sat out after waking up Saturday with tightness in his lower back.

Harper said after Friday’s 9-2 win over the Cardinals that he hoped the Phillies could build some offensive momentum on that performance. But it was St. Louis whose hitters got their bats going.

The Cardinals broke the game open with six runs in the third off Matt Moore (0-1). Moore recorded consecutive outs to start the frame before a two-out barrage.

Molina drove an 82 mph changeup over the wall in left for a three-run homer that made it 3-1. DeJong followed with a solo shot to straightaway center, and it was 5-1 after Dylan Carlson’s RBI double.

Manager Joe Girardi saw enough when Moore’s first pitch to Cardinals starter Kwang Hyun Kim missed the strike zone. Philadelphia then compounded its problems when another runner reached on third baseman Bohm’s throwing error on Kim’s grounder.

The Phillies got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the frame, but the Cardinals answered with three more in the fourth on Arenado’s two-run homer and Molina’s second of the contest, a drive to deep left that made it 9-3. It was the eighth career multihomer game for the 38-year-old veteran and nine-time All-Star.

As productive as the Cardinals were, they left some runs...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Molina-homers-twice-to-lead-Cardinals-past-16109243.php