Cardinals Avoid Doubleheader Sweep

Marcell Ozuna and Matt Carpenter went deep as part of a four-homer barrage and the St. Louis Cardinals split a doubleheader with the Kansas City Royals by winning the second game 10-3 on Wednesday night.

Brad Keller threw seven-plus innings of two-hit baseball to snap a six-start winless streak and Jorge Soler hit a three-run homer as the Royals beat the Cardinals 8-2 in the first game.

Severe storms around St. Louis forced Tuesday night’s game to be postponed and created the day-night twinbill.

Dexter Fowler and Kolten Wong also homered as St. Louis had as many home runs in the second game as it did hits in the opener.

Adam Wainwright (4-4) battled through control issues with 55 of his 103 pitches going for strikes. In five innings, he allowed three runs, six hits, walked four and struck out two.

John Gant, Andrew Miller, Carlos Martinez and John Brebbia combined for four scoreless innings of relief.

Ozuna capped a 12-pitch at-bat by blasting a three-run homer off Homer Bailey over the right field wall to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead in the first. Carpenter set the tone against Bailey, who threw 42 pitches in the inning, with a nine-pitch walk.

Ozuna also doubled, walked and scored twice. He drove in the Cardinals’ only runs in the first game, giving him five RBIs on the day.

Carpenter’s two-run homer in the second inning landed in the right field bullpen. Fowler added a solo homer in the sixth as part of a three-hit night. Wong’s three-run homer capped a four-run seventh.

Bailey (4-5) threw 66 pitches, but lasted just 1 2/3 innings and gave up five runs. The right-hander has allowed 10 earned runs in his last two starts (six innings) and he hasn’t beaten St. Louis since 2014 (eight starts).

Hunter Dozier’s 10th home run of the year off of Wainwright in the fifth inning travelled 420 feet. Adalberto Mondesi had a pair of hits, scored and drove in a run.