Cardinals pound Royals, earn doubleheader split
The Cardinals hit four home runs to defeat the visiting Kansas City Royals 10-3 Wednesday evening, giving St. Louis a split of a day-night doubleheader.
Marcell Ozuna and Kolten Wong each had three-run homers in the nightcap.
Both teams entered the two-game series having lost their past five series.
Adam Wainwright (4-4) picked up the win for St. Louis, but it wasn't easy. He gave up three runs on six hits and four walks in five innings. Wainwright struck out two and hit a batter.
The Royals won the first game 8-2 behind Brad Keller, who gave up two runs on two hits over seven-plus innings. Jorge Soler's three-run home run keyed a six-run third inning.
In the second game, Kansas City's Homer Bailey (4-5) allowed five runs on four hits and two walks in just 1 2/3 innings. He threw 66 pitches. Bailey is now 6-16 all-time against the Cardinals.
Ozuna hit a three-run home run in the first inning. The left fielder, who drove in both of the Cardinals' runs in the first game, capped a 12-pitch at-bat by sending Bailey's 94 mph fastball into the seats in right, his 14th home run of the season.
Wainwright stroked a one-out single in the second, and he scored on Matt Carpenter's sixth home run that just cleared the right field fence.
The Royals got a couple of runs back in the third. Whit Merrifield led off with a double and stole third, then scored on a single by Adalberto Mondesi, who became the seventh Royal to reach 40 RBIs before June 1. Soler singled homer Mondesi for the second run.
Dozier then launched a 427-foot home run in the fifth to cut the deficit to 5-3.
In the sixth, Dexter Fowler greeted reliever Richard Lovelady with a home run into the Cardinals' bullpen on the first pitch he faced to give the Cards a 6-3 lead. Wong's home run was part of a four-run seventh.
--Field Level Media
