St Louis: Tony Cruz hit a tiebreaking, two-run double to cap a four-run seventh inning as the St Louis Cardinals rallied to beat the Chicago Cubs 10-9 on Monday and improve to 19-6 overall, their best start to an MLB season in 115 years.
The Cardinals trailed 5-0 in the first before Mark Reynolds hit his fourth career grand slam in the bottom half to start the comeback.
Miguel Socolovich (2-0) worked a scoreless seventh and Seth Maness gave up a homer to rookie Addison Russell with two outs in the ninth before earning his second save.
St Louis’ 19-6 record is their best start since 1900, topping the 18-6 starts by the 1941 and 1944 teams.
In other games, Milwaukee beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 in Craig Counsell’s managerial debut, Texas ended Houston’s 10-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory, and Nelson Cruz hit his MLB-leading 14th home run as Seattle beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2.
The Brewers rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to deny Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw his 100th career win.
It was Counsell’s first game since taking over for Ron Roenicke, who was fired on Sunday after Milwaukee’s poor start to the year.
In Houston, Robinson Chirinos hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to score Adrian Beltre and put the Rangers ahead. Keone Kela (2-1) pitched the eighth for the win, and Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his third save.
Dallas Keuchel, who was 3-0 with a 0.73 ERA in five April starts, allowed one run on five hits with a season-high eight strikeouts in eight innings for the Astros.
Cruz hit a leadoff shot against Matt Shoemaker (2-2) that ended a scoreless tie in the seventh for the Mariners.
Felix Hernandez (5-0) also won his fifth straight decision to start the season, allowing a run in seven innings while striking out eight and lowering his ERA to 1.73. The 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner became the first Seattle starter since 2001 to win his first five decisions.
Elsewhere, San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and won back-to-back starts for the first time this season as the Giants defeated San Diego 2-0 for their fourth straight victory.
Bumgarner (3-1) out-duelled Tyson Ross (1-3), striking out six and walking one as each starter threw 107 pitches.
In Toronto, pinch-hitter Russell Martin singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Blue Jays ended the New York Yankees’ six-game road winning streak with a 3-1 decision.
Minnesota’s Torii Hunter hit a three-run homer to break a sixth-inning tie and Phil Hughes earned his first win as the Wins beat Oakland 8-7 for their fifth consecutive victory.
Philadelphia also defeated Atlanta 5-2, Washington rallied to beat Miami 6-4 and Tampa Bay beat Boston 5-1.