ST. LOUIS (AP) First Stephen Vogt delivered the lineup card to the umpires. Then he connected for a three-run home run that helped the Oakland Athletics beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 Sunday.
Khris Davis also homered, his 34th, in support of rookie Andrew Triggs‘ first win. Triggs (1-1) allowed three runs on four hits, walked none and struck out eight in six innings.
The Athletics have won four of their past five games and before each of the wins, Vogt has handled the duties of taking out the lineup card.
“Whatever works,” said Vogt, who went to the pregame meeting in his catcher’s gear. “You’ve got to keep it rolling.”
Triggs, who was called up from Triple-A Nashville for the eighth time earlier this month, said about 15 family and friends made the trip from his hometown in Nashville to watch the game played with the temperature 92 degrees at first pitch.
“Once you get through those first couple of innings with that heat, you’re maxed out in sweat so there’s not much more you can do,” Triggs said. “A win’s a win but it’s sweeter because I had a pretty big crew here.”
“He’s getting rewarded with a beer shower,” Athletics manager Bob Melvin said. “To pitch as well as he has and work himself into the rotation, it’s very rewarding to get him a win.”
Jaime Garcia (10-10) gave up a three-run homer to Vogt with in the third and a two-run shot to Davis, his 34th, with in the first. Garcia has allowed seven homers in his past three starts after giving up six in his first 13 starts. Both homers against the Athletics came with two out.
“We’ve seen it a few times where he gets some quick outs and something happens and it rolls out of control for a little while,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.
“You make mistakes and stuff happens fast,” Garcia said. “I need to do a better job than that.”
The Athletics led 5-1 after Vogt’s homer – his 11th of the season and first off a left-hander – but the Cardinals closed to 5-4 in the seventh behind Matt Carpenter, who doubled twice, homered and scored his team’s first three runs. His homer in the third extended the Cardinals’ streak to 17 games with a homer, matching their season best.
Oakland went up 7-4 in the eighth when reliever Jonathan Broxton was charged with two runs while getting only one out. Vogt drove in his fourth run on an infield grounder.
Ryon Healy doubled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in the majors.
St. Louis brought the tying run to the plate with one out against Ryan Madson but Randall Grichuk lined out to third andGreg Garcia flied to center for the final out. It was the closer’s 27th save in 33 chances.
The Cardinals, who completed their home stand 2-4, finished interleague play 1-8 at home and 8-12 overall. Oakland finished 7-13.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: INF Billy Butler (concussion) is expected to be cleared to return Monday.
Cardinals: SS Aledmys Diaz (right thumb) will see a hand specialist Monday to determine when he could return. Diaz has not played since July 31.
UP NEXT
Athletics: Rookie LHP Sean Manaea (5-8, 4.53) starts the opener of a three-game series at Houston seeking his first road win. He worked seven scoreless innings against the Astros in a 2-1 loss July 10.
Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (12-7, 3.13) will make his third start at Milwaukee as St. Louis opens a nine-game, three-city trip. Martinez won his first two starts against the Brewers, allowing one run in 13 innings.
AP photo / Billy Hurst (St. Louis, MO)