Paul Goldschmidt celebrates with third-base coach Ron “Pop” Warner after hitting a two-run home run during the Cardinals’ 8-5 win in Game 1 of a doubleheader with the Cubs on Friday in Chicago. Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press
CHICAGO — The surging St. Louis Cardinals emphatically matched a team record with their 14th straight win on Friday night, pounding the Chicago Cubs 12-4 in the second game of doubleheader behind Tyler O’Neill’s three-run homer and a pair of solo shots by Lars Nootbaar.
Harrison Bader added a solo drive, a double and a single as St. Louis batters went deep five times in the nightcap to sweep the twinbill and equal a run set in July 1935. The winning streak has rocketed the Cardinals into a five-game lead for the second NL wild card.
Paul DeJong also went deep and Nootbaar added a single for three hits in his first multihomer game as St. Louis pulled away. O’Neill’s homer was his 31st of the season, second of the day and 10th in September.
The Cardinals won 8-5 in the opener, riding O’Neill’s and Paul Goldschmidt’s 30th homers and Jose Rondon’s pinch-hit two-run shot.
PADRES 6, BRAVES 5: Fernando Tatis Jr. homered leading off the top of the seventh inning and San Diego beat visiting Atlanta in the resumption of a game that was suspended because of rain on July 21.
The Braves’ lead over the Phillies in the NL East fell to one game.
PHILLIES 8, PIRATES 6: Didi Gregorius hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning, Bryce Harper had an RBI double and Philadelphia won at home.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TWINS 3, BLUE JAYS 1: Byron Buxton’s two-run homer spoiled Jose Berrios’ return to Minnesota and dealt a blow to Toronto’s postseason hopes.
Buxton hit his 15th home run of the season in a three-run third inning against Berrios (12-9), who was making his first start in Minnesota since being dealt to Toronto at the trade deadline. Berrios pitched six seasons for the Twins after being a first-round draft pick by the club in 2012.
The final road trip of the season has complicated the Blue Jays’ chances for a playoff spot. Toronto is 1-4 on the trip and is three games behind the Red Sox and two behind the Yankees for the two wild cards.
WHITE SOX 1, INDIANS 0: Chicago starter Dylan Cease left after being struck on the right arm by a comebacker in the sixth inning as the visiting White Sox spoiled the return of Cleveland ace Shane Bieber.
The White Sox said Cease has a right triceps contusion and that X-rays were negative.
Bieber retired all nine hitters he faced in his first start for the Indians since June 13. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner missed over three months because of a strained right shoulder.
Luis Robert hit a leadoff home run in the fifth for the White Sox, who clinched the AL Central on Thursday.
ROYALS 3, TIGERS 1: Carlos Hernandez pitched five shutout innings and Whit Merrifield drove in a pair of runs as the Kansas City won at Detroit.
INTERLEAGUE
RAYS 8, MARLINS 0: Ryan Yarbrough allowed two hits over six innings of splendid relief and Tampa Bay won at home.
The Rays got three RBI apiece from Randy Arozarena and Kevin Kiermaier, who was a homer short of the cycle.
Tampa Bay, which clinched a postseason spot Wednesday, has a magic number of two to secure its second consecutive AL East title.
NOTES
BLUE JAYS: Toronto reliever Ryan Borucki had his suspension for plunking Tampa Bay outfielder Kevin Kiermaier reduced to two games after an appeal and began serving the ban Friday night during a four-game series in Minnesota.
Borucki was suspended three games and fined an undisclosed amount by Major League Baseball on Thursday. Blue Jays Manager Charlie Montoyo got a one-game ban, which he served Thursday. Borucki appealed the decision by MLB senior vice president Mike Hill, delaying the discipline until completion of the process before MLB special adviser John McHale Jr.
Borucki was ejected from Wednesday’s game after drilling Kiermaier in the back in the eighth inning. That came two days after Kiermaier scooped up a Toronto scouting report that had fallen off catcher Alejandro Kirk’s wristband during a play at the plate and refused to hand it back.
ASTROS: Right-hander Zack Greinke was scratched from his scheduled start Friday night and placed on the 10-day injured list because of neck soreness.
RAYS: Tampa Bay rookie Wander Franco was reinstated from the 10-day injured list after missing two weeks because of a right hamstring injury.
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