While Luke Weaver and long ball game extends Cardinals winning streak in win against Reds, Rays halt Cubs streak at 7

CINCINNATI (UPI) — Despite the increasing pressures of a pennant race, St. Louis Cardinals rookie right-hander Luke Weaver is gaining confidence with each start.

Weaver hasn’t lost a game in nearly two months, and he now owns the longest winning streak for a Cardinals rookie since 1944.

Matt Carpenter, Dexter Fowler and Paul DeJong homered, and Weaver allowed two runs through five innings to lift the Cardinals to a 9-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.

Weaver (7-1) struck out seven and did not walk a batter to extend his major-league-leading win streak to seven games. He hasn’t lost a start since July 27.

“I’ve had good nerves building up with each start,” Weaver said. “We’re playing in a lot of meaningful games. I just don’t want to put too much pressure on myself.”

Ted Wilks won seven straight games as a rookie in 1944. Matt Morris is the last St. Louis pitcher to do it, in 2001.

“For a young guy, he doesn’t make a lot of mistakes in the middle of the plate,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Weaver. “He’s making quality pitches. It is fun to watch.”

Weaver had been tied with Adam Wainwright at six straight wins. Weaver has struck out six or more batters in each of his past seven starts.

On Wednesday, his pitch efficiency wasn’t as good as it has been with 87 pitches through five innings, but Weaver was able to overcome some command issues with a good mix of three pitches.

“The fastball came out of his hand as good as we’ve seen,” Matheny said. “He got in some deep counts. But he got the big strikeout when he needed it. He used his curveball as well as he’s used it. He made pitches on both sides of the plate.”

For the second straight night, the Cardinals’ offense came through.

Tommy Pham went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs for St. Louis (79-72), which trails the first-place Chicago Cubs by five games in the National League Central standings. St. Louis is 2 1/2 games behind the Colorado Rockies for the second NL wild-card spot.

Yadier Molina and Fowler each had two RBIs to help hand Cincinnati (66-86) its second straight loss to begin the series.

Four Cardinals relievers combined to retire 12 of the final 13 Reds batters to finish off the win.

Reds starter Rookie Davis (1-3) lasted only three innings, allowing five runs and five hits.

“These guys (Cardinals) are in the thick of things so you want to throw a quality start,” Davis said. “You want to beat them. I didn’t force early contact when I needed to.”

In the first inning, Carpenter launched a 3-2 pitch from Davis into the right field seats for his 21st home run of the season. It was his 14th career leadoff homer, second this season.

In the third, Pham doubled in a run and Fowler followed with his career-high 18th home run, making the score 4-0. Fowler has homered in three straight games.

“They saw too many pitches and put the barrel of the bat on the ball,” Reds manager Bryan Price said. “This is a whole different environment up here. The games count. The stats count. I watched Rookie’s last bullpen. He couldn’t have thrown the ball any better.”

Things went further downhill for Davis when DeJong’s 24th home run immediately followed Fowler’s. It was the 10th set of back-to-back home runs allowed by Reds pitchers this season.

Molina’s bases-loaded double off Keury Mella, who was making his major league debut, made the score 7-0 in the fifth.

Cincinnati broke up the shutout with two runs in the fifth on Patrick Kivlehan’s RBI double and an RBI hit by Jesse Winker, making it 7-2.

But the Cardinals’ bullpen shut the door, handing Weaver his seventh win.

“Everything is trending in the right direction, that’s a positive thing for me,” Weaver said.

NOTES: The Cardinals recalled INF Aledmys Diaz and RHP Josh Lucas from Triple-A Memphis. … Reds CF Billy Hamilton was reinstated from the 10-day disabled list. He has been sidelined since September 7 with a fractured left thumb. He likely will be used initially as a pinch runner. … Cardinals RHP Jack Flaherty will move to the bullpen and RHP John Gant will join the rotation, manager Mike Matheny announced before the game. … Cincinnati pitchers have allowed four leadoff homers this season. … Reds C Chad Wallach singled as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning for his first career hit.

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For almost half the season, Tampa Bay Rays starter Blake Snell couldn’t find a way to earn a victory. Now he can’t lose.

Snell threw seven innings of two-hit shutout baseball, and Tampa Bay ended the Chicago Cubs‘ seven-game win streak, bouncing back with an 8-1 win on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.

Snell, who didn’t earn a win in any of his first 15 starts this season, has now won four straight decisions and hasn’t taken a loss in his last 10 starts.

“I just learned I have to keep going — you have to adapt, keep learning and keep making the adjustments you need to,” Snell said after Wednesday’s win. “I like the confidence that I had and kept believing in myself.”

The Rays (74-78) kept alive their slim hopes of an American League wild card, moving within four games of the Minnesota Twins with 10 games remaining and four other teams between them.

The first-place Cubs (84-67) had their longest win streak of the season end, and their lead over the second-place Brewers slipped to three games in the National League Central pending Milwaukee’s result Wednesday night. Chicago heads to Milwaukee for a huge four-game series this weekend.

“He grabbed his confidence and all the sudden it all come together for him,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said of Snell. “He was good, he was very good.”

Snell (4-6) had perhaps his best outing of the season, erasing both of the hits he allowed with double plays immediately after. He walked three and struck out five. He hasn’t allowed any earned runs in three of his past six starts.

Cubs starter Jon Lester (11-8) was tagged for seven runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings, ending his run of three straight wins.

“Stuff-wise, command-wise, just an unfamiliar night,” Maddon said. “He had a tough night and I don’t know why. … It just wasn’t there.”

The Rays had dropped eight of 11 but won Wednesday to split the four-game season series with the Cubs. The series finale drew a crowd of 24,238, among Tampa Bay’s largest this season.

Rays catcher Wilson Ramos went 3-for-4 with two RBIs, both on a fifth-inning single to help break the game open.

“Wilson was great back there, and I liked his game-calling, especially going inside,” Snell said. “He helped me a lot there. I felt all my pitches were working very well.”

Chicago spoiled the shutout with a run in the eighth on Jon Jay‘s RBI single to bring in Mike Freeman, who had doubled. The Rays got the run back in the bottom of the eighth as Evan Longoria hit an RBI single for an 8-1 lead.

Steven Souza got things started for the Rays with a solo home run to left field in the first inning. It was his 30th of the season, extending his career high, and gave Tampa Bay an early 1-0 lead.

Lester got into trouble in the second. Ramos singled to start the inning, and after a one-out walk to Cesar Puello, the Rays got an RBI single from Brad Miller. Peter Bourjos added an RBI bunt single, and Kevin Kiermaier contributed an RBI single for a 4-0 lead.

The Rays added three runs in the fifth, as Souza walked and twice was nearly picked off but wound up with stolen bases.

Lester’s pickoff attempt went high to first base and the ball was dropped, allowing Souza to escape to second. A throw to third that would have caught Souza between the bases was short and dropped, allowing Souza to reach third. Longoria was hit by a pitch and Logan Morrison walked to load the bases, and Ramos came through with a two-run single for a 6-0 lead.

Reliever Justin Grimm came in with a runner to third, and his first pitch was a passed ball that allowed a run to score to make it 7-0. Lester left without finishing the fifth, failing to strike out any Rays batters even though Tampa Bay has fanned 1,457 times this season.

NOTES: After their affiliate, the Durham Bulls, won the Triple-A championship game on Tuesday, the Rays will add three players, recalling INF Daniel Robertson and RHP Chih-Wei Hu from Durham and activating LHP Xavier Cedeno from the 60-day disabled list. All three are expected to join the Rays in Baltimore, where the club begins a four-game series Thursday. A corresponding move to the 40-man roster will be made Thursday to make room for Cedeno. … Even with the loss, Chicago is 41-22 since the All-Star break — only Cleveland (47-17) has a better record in the second half. … The Rays got a rare win against a left-handed starter Wednesday — they entered the game with a 17-28 record against lefties, the worst in the majors. Chicago’s Jon Lester was the eighth left-hander to start against the Rays in a span of 11 games.

Written by UPI sports writers Jeff Wallner in Cincinnati and Greg Auman in St. Petersburg, Fla. on behalf of The Sports Xchange