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Cardinals Win; Cubs, White Sox Lose Monday

>>Cardinals Blank Pirates

 

Miles Mikolas pitched an eight-hitter and Tyler O'Neill hit a pair of two-run homers, leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

 

It was the first complete game this season and second overall for Mikolas (6-9), who lasted just four innings in his last start before the break. He struck out three and walked none while throwing 100 pitches.

 

It was first complete game by a Cardinals pitcher this season. Mikolas had the only one last year on May 21 against Kansas City.

 

It also was the second shutout of his career.

 

Mikolas pitched out of three jams. The Pirates had runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth, but Mikolas got Jacob Stallings to ground out and end the inning. In the sixth, he allowed one-out singles to Adam Frazier and Brian Reynolds, his third hit before Starling Marte grounded into an inning-ending double play. Marte also hit into a double play in the first inning. In the seventh, Colin Moran doubled with one out and was stranded at third.

 

St. Louis has won three games in a row.

 

O'Neill, who is playing in left for the injured Marcell Ozuna, had his first career multi-homer game, and drove in four runs for the second time in the last three games. He also singled to finish with three hits.

 

Pittsburgh starter Joe Musgrove (6-8) gave up five runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked three along with hitting a batter.

 

The Cardinals scored an unearned run in the first inning. Paul Goldschmidt walked with two outs and O'Neill hit a line drive that Dickerson dropped, allowing Goldschmidt to score. Musgrove ended up striking out the side but he needed 36 pitches without allowing a hit to get out of the inning.

 

St. Louis went ahead 3-0 in the third. Matt Carpenter was called out at first on a close play to start the inning. After a 37-second challenge, the call was overturned. With one out, Goldschmidt hit a fly ball to deep left in front of the fence. The ball hit Dickerson's glove and popped out. It was ruled a double. An infield hit by O'Neill moved Goldschmidt to third and he came home on a sacrifice fly by Dexter Fowler.

 

The Cardinals chased Musgrove in the fifth. DeJong singled after Carpenter was picked off first by catcher Stallings. After Goldschmidt struck out, Musgrove gave up a two-run homer to center on his first pitch to O'Neill, giving St. Louis a 5-0 lead.

 

O'Neill got his second home run to center off reliever Kyle Crick in the seventh after Goldschmidt walked with two outs.

 

Dario Agrazal (2-0, 2.18) will be making his third big-league start. In his last outing, he went six innings and allowed two runs against Milwaukee.

 

Jack Flaherty (4-6, 4.64) will be making his sixth career start and appearance against Pittsburgh. The Cardinals are 4-1 in his five starts against Pittsburgh, winning the last four.

 

>>Reds Double Up Cubs

 

Eugenio Suarez and Yasiel Puig each hit their 22nd home run of the season, and Cincinnati rallied past Chicago 6-3 on Monday night.

Jesse Winker raced home with an unearned run to cap a two-run seventh inning that made a winner of All-Star starter Luis Castillo. And although the NL Central standings are tight, the Reds improved to a surprising 7-3 against the first-place Cubs this season.

 

After the game, the Cubs acquired catcher Martin Maldonado in a trade with Kansas City that sent left-hander Mike Montgomery to the Royals. In related news, Chicago also announced that All-Star backstop Willson Contreras is going on the 10-day injured list with a strain to the arch area of his right foot.

 

The 32-year-old Maldonado was batting .227 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 74 games for struggling Kansas City. The Cubs will be the fifth major league team for the nine-year veteran, a 2017 Gold Glove winner with the Angels.

 

Casali sent the first pitch from reliever Steve Cishek (2-5) in the seventh into the left field bleachers to tie it at 3. Winker pinch-hit for Castillo and singled, then the Reds jumped on errors by two usually sure-handed Cubs infielders to take the lead.

 

Winker advanced to second when shortstop Javier Baez couldn't handle Nick Senzel's grounder. Winker came home when Suarez's hard bouncer slipped over David Bote's glove at third.

 

Pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer and reliever Michael Lorenzen singled home insurance runs in the eighth.

Castillo (9-3) allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out 10 through six innings. After throwing 105 pitches, the right-hander left trailing 3-2 before his teammates rallied to get him a win.

 

Raisel Iglesias got five outs for his 17th save.

 

Kyle Schwarber hit his 20th home run and doubled. Jason Heyward came through with two more singles and an RBI, but the Cubs fell flat after a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh.

 

Kyle Hendricks was sharp through six innings in his third start following a 17-day stint on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. The right-hander allowed two runs and four hits.

 

Anthony DeSclafani (5-4, 4.26 ERA) takes the mound Tuesday against Chicago RHP Alec Mills, who will make his season debut. DeSclafani is 3-1 in his last six starts and has held opponents to two or fewer runs in five of them. Mills is 6-2 with a 4.73 ERA at Triple-A Iowa. He appeared in seven games for the Cubs last season.

 

>>Royals Down White Sox

 

Jacob Junis struck out a career-high 10 and Nicky Lopez drove in a pair of runs as Kansas City beat the White Sox 5-2 on Monday night. It was the Royals' third win in four games since the All-Star break.

The Royals beat Lucas Giolito for the first time and thwarted his bid for a 12th victory. The right-hander entered the game 6-0 with a 2.13 ERA in 10 previous career starts against Kansas City. After an eight-game winning streak, Giolito is 1-3 with a 6.48 ERA in his last five starts.

 

Junis (5-8) worked seven innings and gave up one run, James McCann's 10th homer of the season.

Whit Merrifield extended his hitting streak to 13 games (.358, 19 for 53) with a bunt single in the seventh. He leads the majors with 122 hits.

 

Giolito (11-4) was hit on his left shoulder by a wicked line drive off the bat of Lopez. The ball ricocheted into right field and Lopez got a double.

 

The Royals got to Giolito in the fourth inning. Alex Gordon and Hunter Dozier had back-to-back doubles for the Royals' first run. Dozier advanced on a wild pitch and scored on single by Cheslor Cuthbert, making the score 2-0.

 

Giolito was removed after the six innings and 94 pitches. Dozier and Lopez each had two hits off the White Sox ace.

 

Jon Jay went 4-for-4 for the White Sox with two doubles and two singles but didn't score a run. The Sox stranded 10 runners.

 

Royals closer Ian Kennedy worked a scoreless ninth for his 14th save in 17 chances.

 

The second of the four-game series on Tuesday matches White Sox RHP Dylan Cease (1-0, 5.40 ERA) and Royals RHP Glenn Sparkman (2-5, 5.18 ERA), the first start for each since the All-Star break.

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