Off-Topic » Carpenter connected for the sixth time in seven games

KANSAS CITY Andre Dawson Jersey , Mo. (AP) — At this point, it’s almost as if the St. Louis Cardinals expect Matt Carpenter to hit a home run every day. Austin Gomber pitched five scoreless innings and the Cardinals defeated the Kansas City Royals 7-0 Friday night.Carpenter tops the National League with 32 home runs, a .600 slugging percentage and 65 extra-base hits. He has reached base in a career-high 28 straight games with 16 homers and 27 RBIs in that span.“It’s fun to watch, that’s for sure,” Cardinals interim manager Mike Shildt said. “Clearly, he’s a special player, a special guy. I’m just happy for him. He’s always looking to grow from the previous version of Matt Carpenter.”Carpenter sent a fastball from Burch Smith into the right-field fountains for a two-out drive with Harrison Bader aboard. He extended his career high for homers as the Cardinals scored five times in the second.“Just having Harrison on base in front of me, just his speed alone you’ve got to figure bought me maybe an extra fastball or so,” Carpenter said. “It’s a big part of it.”Paul DeJong led off the inning with his 11th home run. Bader and Jose Martinez Ron Santo Jersey , who had three hits, contributed RBI singles to set up Carpenter.Bader homered in the sixth and Martinez had an RBI double in the seventh.Gomber (2-0) allowed four hits, walked one, hit a batter and struck out three in his third major league start.“It makes my job a lot easier, especially when my game plan is attack and throw strikes,” Gomber said of the big lead.Daniel Poncedeleon allowed two hits over three innings to notch his first big league save.Gomber worked out of a bases-loaded jam in third, which Adalberto Mondesi led off with a triple. After retiring the next two batters, Gomber walked Rosell Herrera and hit Salvador Perez with a pitch. Hunter Dozier flied out to end the inning.“We couldn’t capitalize on it,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.Smith (1-4) gave up five runs on six hits, a walk and a hit batter in 1 2/3 innings. In six starts http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authentic-david-ross-jersey , Smith has a 9.67 ERA, allowing 24 earned runs in 22 1/3 innings.“I wasn’t commanding any pitches,” Smith said. “I just didn’t have anything working and they were capitalizing on mistakes. They’re good hitters. I just didn’t have it.”The Royals stranded 11 runners and went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Kansas City has lost seven of eight.NO GORDONRoyals LF Alex Gordon, who hit .366 with six multihit games in the past 11 games he had started, was not in the lineup. Yost said he wanted to give Gordon two straight days off with the club idle Thursday.TRAINER’S ROOMCardinals: RF Yairo Munoz left in the sixth inning with a sprained right wrist after swinging at a pitch. Adolis Garcia replaced Munoz and singled in the eighth for his first big league hit. … OF Tyler O’Neill (right groin inflammation) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis. He went 2-for-4 with a two-run double and struck out twice at Oklahoma City. … RHP John Brebbia (right forearm tightness) was placed on the disabled list retroactive to Monday. … RHP Adam Wainwright (right elbow inflammation) threw batting practice at the club’s complex in Jupiter, Florida. “All reports of that were favorable,” Shildt said. “We’ll see how he recovers.” He said the team is evaluating whether Wainwright throws another batting practice or begins a minor league rehab assignment.Royals: OF Brian Gordon (left groin strain) ran the bases as his final hurdle before coming off the disabled list. He said he is at about 80 percent.UP NEXTCardinals: Rookie RHP Jack Flaherty is 5-6 with a 3.27 ERA in 18 starts.Royals: LHP Danny Duffy will be facing the Cardinals for the first time since June 27, 2016. The Boston Red Sox will go for a series victory when they close out a four-game set against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.Boston (94-43) leads the majors in wins and has posted a 38-14 record since July 2. The Red Sox need a victory on Sunday to match their high-water mark for the season at 52 games above .500.The trajectory is not as kind in Chicago (54-82), which guaranteed its sixth sub-.500 season in a row after Saturday’s defeat. The White Sox are building toward the future but have shown promise lately by winning 12 of 18.Article continues below ...“I think we’re all pulling in the same direction, and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of right now Ryne Sandberg Jersey ,” rookie right-hander Michael Kopech told reporters after his most recent outing. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve been a winning team, and hopefully it stays that way for a long time.”Boston rallied to win Thursday’s series opener 9-4, fell short 6-1 on Friday night in a game delayed by rain, and returned the favor with a 6-1 victory on Saturday evening.The Red Sox improved to 46-25 away from Fenway Park. The White Sox claim a home record of 26-42.Boston left-hander Brian Johnson (4-3, 4.02 ERA) will try to maintain the positive momentum in his 12th start of the season and the 18th start of his career. The 27-year-old former Florida pitcher will try to win his fourth decision in a row after going 3-0 with a 4.36 ERA in seven games (six starts) since July 26.Johnson has not faced the White Sox in his career.Chicago will counter with veteran right-hander James Shields (5-15, 4.54 ERA), who will make his 29th start. Shields has pitched at least six innings in nine of his past 12 outings and has been better than his record suggests.In 28 career starts against the Red Sox, Shields is 9-14 with a 4.40 ERA. He has walked 56 and struck out 151 during 173 2/3 innings. He frequently faced the club while he was a member of the division rival Tampa Bay Rays.White Sox manager Rick Renteria said Shields and other starters had done their job well even if they did not necessarily have the victories to show for it this season.“We’re trying to get through the back end of ballgames to complete what those guys on the front end have done,” Renteria said recently to reporters. “Right now Billy Williams Jersey , we’re going to try to find out a lot, so we’ll see how it goes. But it doesn’t ever take away, regardless of the outcome at the end, it never takes away from what those guys have done at the beginning of the ballgame.”The Red Sox and the White Sox split their first six meetings of the season.As other teams scrambled to add veterans this week for a possible playoff push, Boston stayed the course.“There wasn’t one player that we had interest in that we would have liked to pursue that ever got back to us (in the waiver order), which we understood kind of thinking going into August,” Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowksi said to MassLive.com. “Some guys got through waivers. But we didn’t significantly pursue any of those players.’