Phillies survive pitcher's short start to defeat Cardinals

Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer and scored three times to power the Philadelphia Phillies past the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Saturday night.

Alec Bohm drove in two runs and scored another as Philadelphia won its third straight game.

Phillies starting pitcher Ranger Suarez retired the six batters he faced. But he did not come out for the third inning due to a left-hand contusion he sustained when he was hit by Alec Burleson's line drive to end the second inning.

That forced Philadelphia to deploy a string of relievers to get through the game. Jose Ruiz allowed one run on two hits in one inning, then Spencer Turnbull (1-0) blanked the Cardinals for three innings while striking out six.

Orion Kerkering, Seranthony Dominguez and Gregory Soto each threw a scoreless inning to close out the victory.

Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (7-3) allowed four runs on five hits and three walks in five innings. He struck out 10.

Philadelphia broke out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Kyle Schwarber drew a leadoff walk, Harper lined a one-out single, and Bohm smacked a double to left-center to drive them home. Nick Castellanos hit a two-out RBI double and Brandon Marsh walked before Gray struck out Edmundo Sosa to end the rally.

The Cardinals cut their deficit to 3-1 in the third inning. Nolan Gorman hit a single, moved to third on Michael Siani's double and scored on Masyn Winn's sacrifice fly.

The Phillies responded in the bottom of the inning to push their lead to 4-1. Harper walked, took second on Bohm's single and scored on Marsh's single.

The Cardinals threatened in the seventh inning when Ivan Herrera hit a one-out double and Dylan Carlson reached on a two-out infield single. But Kerkering struck out Gorman to strand them.

The Phillies made it 6-1 in the bottom of the inning when J.T. Realmuto reached on an error with two outs and Harper blasted his two-run shot, his 14th homer of the season.

--Field Level Media