MILWAUKEE (AP) Eight hits in two days have made Matt Carpenter a happy man.
Carpenter tied his season high with four hits for the second straight game, scored four times and drove in two runs to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Milwaukee Brewers 10-3 on Tuesday night.
“When you feel good, you feel good,” Carpenter said after his 13th multi-hit game this season. “Hits come in bunches. I’ve had stretches during this year where I felt really good, was hitting balls right at people. Baseball has a funny way of working itself out.”
Carpenter is 8 for 10 with seven runs, three doubles and two triples during this three-game series which ends Wednesday.
“It’s pretty clear he’s locked-in,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s tough to pitch to when he’s like that.”
Jedd Gyorko hit a three-run homer, and Mike Leake (4-4) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out four over six innings for his fourth win in the last five starts. His only mistakes were Jonathan Lucroy‘s home run leading off the second and Ryan Braun‘s RBI double in the sixth.
Carpenter and Matt Holliday – 2 for 4 with two RBIs – continued their torrid hitting against the Brewers, this time against Wily Peralta (3-6).
In the Cardinals’ 6-0 win on Monday, Carpenter had four hits and three runs and Holliday added his second consecutive three-hit game, including his second home run of the nine-game road trip.
Tuesday night, Carpenter doubled, singled and tripled twice. Holliday singled twice, driving in Carpenter both times. Carpenter also scored when Holliday hit into a double play in the seventh. Carpenter scored again when Aledmys Diaz grounded out to third during a five-run eighth.
Carpenter has been rolling since his wife, Mackenzie, gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Kinley Rae, last Wednesday. He says he’s been more relaxed since then.
“When we got the good news, it’s definitely one less thing to think about,” he said. “A kid doesn’t guarantee you’ll go out and get four hits, but it’s certainly one less thing to think about.”
Seung Hwan Oh pitched a scoreless seventh, Kevin Siegrist surrendered Lucroy’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth and Jonathan Broxton finished with a perfect ninth.
Peralta needed 29 pitches to get through the first, but then held the Cardinals in check until the fifth. He allowed three runs on nine hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out two while dropping to 0-7 over his past eight starts against the Cardinals. He lost 7-0 in his first start this season against the Cardinals on April 14 at Busch Stadium.
CARDINALS DROP A DIME
St. Louis had 10 or more runs in a game for the 10th time this season and improved to 10-0 when doing so.
BREWERS MOVES
The Brewers claimed RHP Neil Ramirez (0-0, 4.70 ERA) off waivers from the Chicago Cubs and designated INF Colin Walsh for assignment. Manager Craig Counsell said Ramirez would join the club on Wednesday. Walsh, a Rule 5 player, appeared in 38 games, batting .085 in 63 plate appearances.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: OF Stephen Piscotty was back in the starting lineup after missing Monday’s game with a stomach ailment.
Brewers: LF Ryan Braun was back in the starting lineup after missing consecutive games with a sore neck. The team’s leading hitter also has been bothered by soreness in his lower back and right wrist this season. He is hitting .351 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs and hadn’t played since Saturday in Cincinnati, when he pinch-hit and hit into a double play. … RHP Matt Garza (Class A Wisconsin), RHP Corey Knebel (Class A Brevard County) and OF Domingo Santana(Double-A Biloxi) began rehab assignments Tuesday night.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: RHP Jaime Garcia makes his second start of the season against the Brewers. He pitched a complete-game, one-hit shutout in a 6-1 win at Busch Stadium on April 30. He is 10-4 with a 2.67 ERA in 18 career games, including 17 starts, against Milwaukee.
Brewers: RHP Zach Davies (2-3, 5.40 ERA) makes his ninth start of the season and first career against the Cardinals. Opponents are batting .294 with seven home runs against him since being recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs on April 17.
