Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina talks to pitcher Adam Wainwright during Thursday’s game against the Washington Nationals in St. Louis. Jeff Roberson/Associated Press
ST. LOUIS — Yadier Molina homered twice on a day when he paired with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright to tie the major league record for 324 starts by a battery in an 11-6 loss to the Washington Nationals on Thursday.
Alex Call had four hits and five RBI for Washington, including a three-run homer off James Naile in the ninth.
Wainwright and Molina matched the mark set by Detroit’s Mickey Lolich and Bill Freehan from 1963-75.
Molina hit a two-run homer into the third deck in left field in the third and a solo shot just over the wall in the fourth. It was the ninth career multi-homer game for Molina and his first since April 17, 2021, at Philadelphia.
Wainwright allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings.
Wainwright, 41, and Molina, 40, got a standing ovation from the crowd of 40,437 as they made their way in from the bullpen moments before first pitch, and another after the top of the first inning. Wainwright and Molina are on track to break the record at home against Milwaukee on Sept. 14.
The pair have totaled 13 All-Star Game appearances, and the Cardinals have reached the postseason in 11 of the 17 seasons the two have been on the roster.
César Hernández drove in three runs and Luis García broke a 4-4 tie with a sixth-inning infield single off Jordan Hicks, who had relieved Andre Pallante (6-5). The Nationals had 18 hits and earned a four-game split.
BREWERS SWEEP GIANTS: Garrett Mitchell hit an RBI double and Milwaukee withstood Freddy Peralta’s early exit to beat visiting San Francisco and complete a doubleheader sweep.
In the opening game, Corbin Burnes struck out 14 and allowed three hits in eight shutout innings in a 2-1 victory.
Peralta left the second game because of fatigue in his right shoulder after walking Tommy La Stella to lead off the third inning. The Brewers led 3-0 at the time.
Burnes (10-6) struck out 10 or more batters for the ninth time this season to tie the Brewers’ single-season record set by Ben Sheets in 2004. His 14 strikeouts were one off his career high.
MARLINS 6, PHILLIES 5: Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins’ two-base error allowed Miami to tie the game in the ninth and Brian Anderson’s followed with an RBI single as the visiting Marlins snapped their nine-game losing streak.
Philadelphia led 5-4 when Garrett Cooper led off the ninth with a double off David Robertson (4-3).
Joey Wendle, who homered earlier, slapped a pitch down the line that Hoskins failed to snag, and the ball rolled into right field as pinch-runner Bryan De La Cruz scored.
Avisaíl García walked, and Anderson hit a go-ahead single to right.
REDS 4, CUBS 3: Jonathan India hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning, and Cincinnati rallied for a victory at Chicago.
The Cubs were ahead 3-2 in the ninth when Alejo Lopez’s liner off Mark Leiter Jr. (2-7) slipped between rookie right fielder Seiya Suzuki and center fielder Rafael Ortega and rolled to the wall for a triple, allowing Nick Senzel to score from first to tie it. Lopez trotted home when India lined a single to left – his third hit of the game.
Suzuki doubled and scored in the sixth and put Chicago in front with a solo shot in the eighth. His 12th homer was a liner into the first row of Wrigley Field’s left-center bleachers off Alexis Diaz.
Diaz (6-2) got five outs for the win. Ian Gibaut worked around a hit in the ninth for his first save.
Kyle Farmer led off the seventh with a solo shot to chase Cubs starter Adrian Sampson, who allowed one run on five hits and walked none. Farmer and Jake Fraley each had two hits for the Reds, who have won two straight and three of four.
Nico Hoerner tripled and doubled for the Cubs, who have lost nine of 11.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TWINS 4, YANKEES 3: Carlos Correa responded to booing Yankees fans with a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning, and visiting Minnesota avoided a four-game sweep.
Correa’s two-out drive off former Greg Weissert followed an unsuccessful video review called by the Yankees after what New York thought should have been the third out. The Yankees maintained Wandy Peralta (2-4) got to first in time on a flip from first baseman Marwin Gonzalez on Jake Cave’s grounder, but replays showed Peralta trapped the ball with his glove against his body.
Yankees Manager Aaron Boone bounded from the dugout to argue with crew chief Larry Vanover and threw his hands up in frustration before leaving the field.
One out later, Correa connected on a 1-2 slider for his 18th homer, his second in two days. It gave Minnesota a 4-2 lead and he pounded his chest in the direction of his dugout while rounding third base.
Minnesota held on to stop a 10-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium dating to May 2019.
NOTES
YANKEES: Infielder DJ LeMahieu was placed on the 10-day injured list because of inflammation of his right second toe.
LeMahieu had been dealing with the injury for several weeks but managed to play through the discomfort until recently, missing the first three games of New York’s series against Minnesota.
The move is retroactive to Sept. 5, opening up the possibility that LeMahieu could be back next Friday at Milwaukee.
RANGERS: Top prospect Josh Jung, who had shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in Feburary, is set to make his big league debut Friday night after a month of Triple-A games.
The Rangers plan to put Jung, the eighth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Texas Tech, on their 28-man active roster before the series opener at home against the Toronto Blue Jays.
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