Charlie Morton Fans 13 In Houston Win; Matt Carpenter 5-for-5 As Cards Top Tribe

Players of the Day for Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Morton 7 IP, O ER, 13 K

American League

While Luis Severino was blanking the Phillies en route to becoming the AL's first 12-game winner, Houston's Charlie Morton wasn't exactly fooling around with Toronto's hitters, fanning 13 over seven strong innings in the Astros' 7-0 triumph.

Morton threw 67 of 98 pitches for strikes, walked two and allowed four hits, improving to 10-1 on the year. He's struck out 122 in 95 2/3 innings, ranking him seventh among AL hurlers. Boston's Chris Sale leads the league with 153 Ks.

The Astros evened the series after dropping a 6-3 decision on Monday and remain in first place in the AL West, 3 1/2 better than the scrappy Seattle Mariners.

The series wraps up in Houston at 2:10 pm EDT Wednesday.

National League

St. Louis has won four straight, the last two against the AL Central-leading Cleveland, including Tuesday's 11-2 rip of the Indians and their ace starter, Cory Kluber.

Carpenter: 5-5, 2HR, 5R

Kluber was clubbed repeatedly by the Cards, allowing six earned runs in just 1 2/3 innings of work, but St. Louis batters were not nearly through, banging out 13 hits, five of them by leadoff hitter, Matt Carpenter, who started the St. Louis scoring with a home run in the first and finished it with another dinger off Reliever Gorge Kontos, both solo shots.

In between, Carpenter singled twice and doubled, finishing with three RBI and five runs while boosting his batting average to .259.

The Cardinals are four games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central and 1 1/2 behind the second place Cubs. While the Indians may have dropped two straight, they are still 7 1/2 up on Minnesota and 8 ahead of Detroit.

A sweep is what the Cardinals will be seeking when the teams take the field Wednesday at 8:15 pm EDT in St. Louis.