Marlins 6, Cardinals 5
Giancarlo Stanton blasted his National League-best 30th and 31st home runs to power host Miami past St. Louis in the opener of a three-game series.
Christian Yelich went 3-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice for the Marlins, who climbed within 4 1/2 games of the Cardinals in the National League wild-card race. Miami starter Tom Koehler (8-9) went five-plus innings, allowing three runs and eight hits, to snap a two-start losing streak, and Steve Cishek gave up two runs in a rocky ninth before holding on for his 30th save.
St. Louis starter Shelby Miller (8-9) was tagged for five runs and eight hits in five innings. Matt Holliday went 4-for-4 and Jon Jay hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who slipped 2 1/2 games behind National League Central leader Milwaukee.
Stanton staked the Marlins to an early 3-0 lead, driving a two-run shot to the opposite field in the first and cranking a solo blast to left-center in third. St. Louis pulled even in the fourth, getting on the board on A.J. Pierzynski's RBI single and tying it on Jay's two-run blast.
Miami regained the lead in the bottom of the inning as Adeiny Hechavarria tripled home a run and scored on Yelich's RBI single, and Yelich scampered home with an insurance run on Pierzynski's throwing error in the seventh. Kolten Wong tripled in a run and scored on Holliday's two-out infield single in the ninth as St. Louis put the tying run on base before Cishek struck out Matt Adams to end it.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Stanton has homered in four of his last five games. … Stanton has 13 career multi-homer games, surpassing Hanley Ramirez (12) for the franchise mark. … The Cardinals have homered in five straight games, tying their longest streak of the season.