MIAMI (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton led the Miami Marlins to a victory with his bat and his glove.

Stanton hit two home runs and made a spectacular diving catch in right field to help the Marlins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 on Monday night.

“He was definitely trying to take that game over not only with his bat, but with his glove,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

Stanton’s 13th multihomer game established a franchise career record and he tied Hanley Ramirez for second place on the club’s home run list with 148. Stanton hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the third to give him 31 on the season and five in his last five games.

“Just feeling better and having better at-bats and pitch selection is a little better,” Stanton said of his recent surge.

Marlins starter Tom Koehler (8-9) allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

Steve Cishek escaped the ninth to record his 30th save in 33 chances. With two outs, Cishek allowed an RBI triple by Kolten Wong and an RBI single by Matt Holliday, allowing the Cardinals to pull within 6-5. Cishek struck out Matt Adams to end the game.

Jon Jay hit a two-run homer, Holliday had four hits, and Shelby Miller (8-9) allowed five runs in five innings for the Cardinals, who have lost three of four.

“We had plenty of hits, they just had bigger ones,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

Stanton’s diving catch to his left on the warning track took a hit away from Wong in the fifth inning.

“I was more trying to protect myself and slide on grass as opposed to dirt and make sure I secure it at the same time,” Stanton said.

The catch prompted the home crowd into giving him a standing ovation, with two homers already to his credit.

“That was really cool that they appreciate things like that,” Stanton said.

Koehler and the Marlins also benefited from key defensive plays by Jordany Valdespin, Christian Yelich, and Adeiny Hechavarria.

“I don’t think I’ve had that many top-notch plays in a course of a season, that was unbelievable,” Koehler said. “If you watch ‘SportsCenter’ tonight, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have all 10 (top plays).”

The Cardinals were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

The Marlins led 3-0 after Stanton’s homers, but the Cardinals tied it with three runs in the fourth.

“I made some pitches, but when it came down to the best hitter on their team I threw two of the worst pitches I’ve probably thrown all night,” Miller said.

Hechavarria and Yelich drove in runs in the bottom of the inning to put the Marlins up 5-3.

— Associated Press —

BALTIMORE (AP) — Using their own brand of baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals showed power-hitting Baltimore they can score a bunch of runs, too.

Rookie Kolten Wong had four hits and scored twice, Peter Bourjos homered and St. Louis beat the Orioles 8-3 Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

After allowing nine home runs in losing the first two games of the series by a collective 22-5 score, the Cardinals amassed a season-high 17 hits — 14 of them singles.

St. Louis came into the game with 80 home runs compared to 147 for Baltimore, but the Cardinals’ style of little ball produced a big win.

“We walked in here today and that’s all the conversation was, we’ve got to win this, we’ve got to figure out a way to get this one,” manager Mike Matheny said. “We felt good about what our offense could do. The guys, they were taking good at-bats all day long. We got a couple big hits when we needed them; that’s usually the difference.”

Bourjos capped the barrage with a three-run drive in the ninth off Zach Britton, ending the left-hander’s run of 27 straight scoreless appearances at home.

The additional runs seemed to be unnecessary, but against the Orioles it’s hard to determine how much offense is enough.

“We saw what they can do the last couple nights and we had to keep pushing to keep pace with them and keep the lead,” third baseman Daniel Descalso said.

Wong’s four hits, all of them singles, matched a career high and lifted his batting average 11 points to .253.

St. Louis right-hander Lance Lynn (12-8) gave up three runs and nine hits over 5 2/3 innings, only the second time in his last 12 starts that he allowed more than two runs.

“They’ve got some guys that can hit the ball all the way up and down the lineup, and I knew that going in today it was going to be a grind,” Lynn said. “I was able to make enough pitches when I needed to and get out of some jams.”

Nick Markakis had four hits for the Orioles, who went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. Caleb Joseph’s streak of consecutive games with a home run ended at five, one short of the club record.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ejected after a replay overturned an out call on a force play in the top of the seventh. His first ejection of the season was automatic after he came out to argue the result of a replay.

Baltimore starter Kevin Gausman (6-4) allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings.

“I like that he didn’t let the game get away from him completely,” Showalter said. “A lot of borderline pitches. It wasn’t like he imploded.”

The AL East-leading Orioles next host the New York Yankees for a three-game series that begins Monday night. New York trails by six games.

“We don’t really look at it quite the way everybody else does,” Showalter said. “It’s significant because they’re one of the teams we’ve got to be better than when the smoke clears.”

St. Louis went up 4-2 in the sixth on an RBI single by Descalso, but Markakis matched that in the bottom half with a run-scoring single.

Successive doubles by Descalso and Matt Carpenter, off Andrew Miller in the eighth, made it 5-3.

Bourjos wrapped it up with his home run. He entered as a pinch runner in the seventh.

— Associated Press —

BALTIMORE (AP) — When the Baltimore Orioles are in a home-run groove, anyone in the lineup is capable of hitting the ball out — regardless of who’s serving it up.

Just ask the St. Louis Cardinals, who have absorbed two straight whippings from the AL East leaders.

Caleb Joseph homered in his fifth consecutive game, Nelson Cruz hit his 30th and Delmon Young also went deep as the Orioles beat John Lackey and the Cardinals 10-3 Saturday.

All three home runs came with a man on against Lackey (1-1), making his second start since coming from Boston in a July 31 trade. The right-hander gave up nine runs and 13 hits in five-plus innings to fall to 14-8 lifetime against Baltimore.

The Orioles have hit nine homers in winning the first two games of the three-game set by a collective 22-5 score. Baltimore has captured seven straight series and leads the AL East by six games, its largest margin since September 1997.

“Obviously, they are a hot team right now,” Lackey said. “You got to give them a lot of credit. They’re swinging the bats well. Hits were falling in. A couple of them were hit real hard and they went out of the yard.”

Joseph, a rookie, had three homers in his first 48 games before his recent power surge. The club record for homers in successive games is six, by Reggie Jackson and Chris Davis.

“Maybe seven, eight months ago I was thinking about hanging it up,” Joseph said. “Every day in the big leagues is such a blessing, and especially to be on this team with this group of guys and to be in first place.”

Baltimore leads the majors with 147 homers and has connected in eight straight games. Over the last two days, the Orioles have gotten home runs from eight different players.

“This is a team that is swinging the bat well,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “When you have some confidence in the entire lineup, it doesn’t matter who is pitching. It’s just another one of those days. I don’t think there have been many times this year when we said, ‘It’s one of those days,’ two days in a row. They just kept swinging.”

Ubaldo Jimenez (4-8) returned from a stint on the disabled list with a sprained right ankle to earn his first win since May 8. He allowed three runs, six hits and three walks over six innings.

Jimenez, who signed a four-year, $50 million contract during the offseason, was 0-5 with a 10.55 ERA in day games and 1-6 at home.

“The guys have been on a good run in the last month, last month-and-a-half and so I am very happy to be part of it,” the right-hander said.

Jon Jay homered and had two RBIs and Jhonny Peralta hit two doubles for the Cardinals, now 7-12 in interleague play.

An RBI double by Peralta gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the first, but Matt Holliday was thrown out while trying to score on the hit.

After Jay hit his second homer in 266 at-bats in the second, Baltimore went in front in the bottom half when Young doubled in a run and Joseph homered.

Cruz connected in the third after an infield hit by Adam Jones for a 5-2 lead. It was his first homer since July 25.

Young homered to cap a three-run fifth, and the Orioles chased Lackey in the sixth with three straight singles.

— Associated Press —

BALTIMORE (AP) — On a night in which the Orioles wore 1954 throwback uniforms to mark the 60th anniversary of their arrival in Baltimore, the team administered an old-fashioned whipping on the St. Louis Cardinals.

J.J. Hardy hit two of the Orioles’ season-high six home runs, and Baltimore cruised to a 12-2 victory Friday night to move a season-high 17 games over .500.

It was a rare blowout for the Orioles, who scored three runs or fewer in 11 of their 20 previous games and have played 63 games decided by one or two runs.

“Anytime you can get a big lead and come out of the game early it’s nice,” said Hardy, who left in the seventh inning. “It’s fun just to be able to relax and watch the game.”

Hardy hit a solo shot and a three-run drive for his 11th multihomer game. Manny Machado, Adam Jones, Chris Davis and Ryan Flaherty also connected as Baltimore (66-49) reached double figures in runs for the first time since April 24.

“Baseball’s full of circles,” Machado said. “One day we’re going to win a game 2-1, 1-0 and the other day we’re going to blow a team out. It’s just part of the game.”

Chris Tillman (9-5) gave up two runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was pulled after a two-run drive by A.J. Pierzynski made it 12-2.

“It was one of those nights where everything kind of clicked for me and I was able to execute most of my pitches,” Tillman said.

The result was Baltimore’s first win over the Cardinals in 11 years. The Orioles — who were the St. Louis Browns before relocating — went 1-2 in St. Louis in 2003 and were swept in three games at Camden Yards in 2011.

The Cardinals and Browns once shared Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis, but now the teams rarely run into each other.

In this one, a three-run drive by Machado and Hardy’s first home run helped Baltimore go up 5-0 against Justin Masterson (1-1) in the third. That was enough to propel the AL East-leaders to their ninth win in 12 games.

Making his second start for the Cardinals since being traded from Cleveland, Masterson allowed five runs and seven hits in two-plus innings. He also walked three, hit two batters and threw a wild pitch.

“This is not the best thing you want to do when you come to a new team,” Masterson said.

“He couldn’t find the plate tonight and when he did, his pitches were more elevated than they were last time out,” manager Mike Matheny said. “When he elevated the ball, they elevated it as well.”

Hardy connected with two on in the fourth off Nick Greenwood for an 8-0 lead. At that point, every Orioles starter either had a hit or scored a run.

Baltimore leads the majors with 144 home runs and has at least one in seven straight games. The Orioles are 55-25 when they homer.

The blowout was sweeter for the Orioles because many of the team’s former greats, such as Brooks Robinson and Cap Ripken Jr., were on hand to watch it before being honored in a ceremony afterward.

“Yeah, I think it’s awesome,” Tillman said. “It’s a good night to do what we did, with all these guys around here, and it’s fun. We were hanging out with them in the clubhouse.”

— Associated Press —