Cardinals 10, Phillies 1
PHILADELPHIA -- Randal Grichuk's first career multi-home run game propelled the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, marking another series win for the team with the best record in the major leagues.
Grichuk's first homer of the night came off Phillies starter Aaron Harang with no outs in the sixth inning after right fielder Jason Heyward and catcher Yadier Molina led off the inning with singles.
Grichuk sent a 2-1 fastball over the wall and into the bullpen, breaking a 1-1 tie that lasted the previous two innings.
By the time the left fielder hit his second homer in the ninth, his teammates had blown the game open with a run in the seventh and four in the eighth.
The home runs were the fifth and sixth of the season for Grichuck, who went 3-for-5 with three runs and four RBIs. He also homered in a 12-4 Cardinals win to open the series the night before.
Heyward and Cardinals shortstop Jhonny Peralta also collected three hits apiece.
The victory moved St. Louis to a major-league best 22 games above .500. The Phillies, meanwhile, dropped to a major league-worst 24 games below the break-even mark with their sixth loss in a row.
Harang took the loss, giving up four runs (all earned) in six innings. It's the sixth straight defeat for the veteran, whose record has gone from 4-3 to 4-9 and his ERA has risen from 1.82 on May 19 to 3.41.
Cardinals starter John Lackey (6-4, 3.41) picked up his second win in a row, going seven innings while allowing five hits and one run.
Cody Asche opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a two-out homer to right, the third home run of the year for the converted outfielder and first since his recall from triple-A Lehigh Valley on May 29.
The Cardinals squared things in the top of the fourth when Peralta led off with a single and came around to score two batters later on Molina's RBI double.
NOTES: The Phillies designated RHP Phillippe Aumont for assignment and selected the contract of RHP Seth Rosin from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Aumont gave up six runs in four innings Friday in his only major-league appearance this year. ... St. Louis set season highs in runs (12) and hits (16) in the series opener, a 12-4 win that snapped a two-game losing streak for the National League Central leaders. ... Phillies starting pitchers have not won since May 23 at Washington, a span of 25 games. They're 0-16 with a 5.97 ERA during that span. No other starting rotation in the majors has fewer than five wins during that period.