New York: Travis Shaw belted a three-run homer with two outs in the top of the 10th inning on Monday night as the Milwaukee Brewers outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 at Busch Stadium.
Shaw victimised Seung Hwan Oh (1-1), who had to try to get four outs in the inning after a throwing error by second baseman Kolten Wong enabled pinch-hitter Hernan Perez to reach base.
Jonathan Villar bunted Perez to second. After Eric Thames was intentionally walked, Oh slipped a called third strike by Domingo Santana. But Shaw ripped a 1-2 pitch 451 feet over the St. Louis bullpen in right-centre for his sixth homer of the year.
Oliver Drake (1-0) pitched a clean ninth for the win and Neftali Feliz picked up his seventh save despite yielding a leadoff homer to Jedd Gyorko, his second of the night.
Milwaukee (14-13) improved to 7-3 on the road while the Cardinals (12-13) lost their second straight game, falling to 3-3 on a nine-game homestand.
Billy Hamilton’s double with two outs in the 10th inning drove home Arismendy Alcantara with the winning run, lifting Cincinnati to a victory over Pittsburgh 4-3 in the opener of a four-game series at Great American Ball Park.
In the 10th, Tucker Barnhart walked with one out and pinch runner Alcantara advanced to second on Daniel Hudson’s errant pickoff throw to first. Two batters later, Hamilton laced a 2-2 pitch from Hudson (0-1) into right field.
Adam Duvall hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth for Cincinnati, who have won two straight since snapping a four-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, Michael Conforto continued his offensive splurge since being moved to the leadoff spot, coming up with a home run and three RBIs in New York’s 7-5 win over Atlanta.
The left-fielder was 2-for-4 with a walk and hit his seventh home run. He improved to 14-for-40 (.350) in the 10 games in which he’s batted first. He led off the game with a home run and had a two-out two-run single to cap a five-run outburst in the fourth that put the Mets ahead to stay.
Winning pitcher Robert Gsellman (1-2) allowed five earned runs for the second straight start. The right-hander pitched five innings and allowed six hits and one walk, without striking out a batter, and nearly allowed a 6-1 lead to slip away.
Jason Vargas worked six strong innings as Kansas City topped Chicago 6-1, ending the Royals’ nine-game losing streak.
Vargas (4-1) permitted one run on five hits over six innings, throwing 96 pitches. He walked three and struck out one. He lost to the White Sox 12-1 last week, giving up four runs on seven hits over five innings.
Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer homered in the seventh with Christian Colon, who led off the inning with a single, along for the ride. Hosmer drove an 0-1 Dylan Covey pitch out the opposite way.
