Fische » ST. LOUIS (AP) — Miles Mikolas‘ outing against the San

Francisco Giants was typical Luis Tiant Jersey , and typical for him is pretty good.Mikolas won his fourth straight start, Matt Carpenter hit his NL-leading 36th homer and the Cardinals beat the Giants 9-2 to complete a three-game sweep and remain on track for the NL’s second wild card.St. Louis (87-69) has won three straight games and six of seven. The Cardinals remained 1½ games ahead of Colorado (85-70) and two games behind Milwaukee, the wild card leader. St. Louis hosts the Brewers (89-67) in a three-game series starting Monday night.“We feel pretty good,” Mikolas said. “We feel strong. We feel like we’re a team that’s real dangerous and a team that’s going to come out and give a lot of people trouble.”Mikolas (17-4) allowed two runs — one earned — and two hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. John Brebbia and Giovanny Gallegos, who made his Cardinals debut, finished a five-hitter.“I had some good sink of my fastball so I tried to use that a lot,” said Mikolas, tied with Washington’s Max Scherzer and Chicago’s Jon Lester for the NL lead in wins. “Just pound the zone. They took some swings early so I was able to get some quick outs.”Mikolas has made 11 starts of at least seven innings and the two hits he gave up were a season low.“He works ahead in the count so that creates doubt,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “He can pretty much throw any pitch he wants at any time in the count. He throws inner half, which sets up the outer half, which disrupts the balance of the hitter and he can change speed which disrupts the timing of the hitter. That combination is what pitching is.”Andrew Suarez (7-12) gave up two runs and six hits in five innings as San Francisco gave him three runs or less of run support during his time in the game for the 21st time this season. The Giants finished 31-50 on the road for a two-year record of 57-105 away from home.San Francisco has lost 10 straight road games against NL Central teams since winning at the Chicago Cubs on May 27.“It’s a tough lineup,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of the Cardinals. “They’ve got power, speed, good athletes.”The bottom two in the Cardinals batting order built a 2-0 lead with two-out singles http://www.redsoxproshops.com/authentic-mitch-moreland-jersey , by Yairo Munoz in the second and Mikolas in the fourth.Harrison Bader bunted in a run to spark a five-run sixth that includes RBI singles by Munoz and Paul DeJong around Jose Martinez’s two-run double. Carpenter hit a two-run homer off Casey Kelly in the eighth.“Everybody contributed,” Carpenter said. “Guys finding a way to score even when we’ve got some guys that aren’t getting it done. It’s the making of a good team.”Brandon Crawford’s two-run homer in the seventh stopped an 0-for-9 skid.“I’ve faced him a few times back in 2012 but other than that I haven’t seen him for years,” Crawford said of Mikolas. “I was just looking for something up that I can put in play and try and just get the bat on and fortunately saw the curve ball enough to put the barrel on it.”TRAINING ROOMCardinals: 2B Kolten Wong missed his second consecutive start after leaving Friday’s game in the seventh inning with cramps in both hamstrings.DEBUTINF Edmundo Sosa was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. Sosa made his debut when he walked as a pinch-hitter in the eighth, and he scored on Carpenter’s home run.UP NEXTGiants: LHP Derek Holland (7-8, 3.57 ERA) starts the first of a three-game series at home against San Diego and RHP Bryan Mitchell (1-4, 6.16 ERA) on Monday night. Holland will make his first start since July 18, which was also against the Padres, where he allowed four runs in five innings.Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (8-8, 3.08 ERA) kicks off a three-game home series Monday night against Milwaukee and RHP Chase Anderson (9-8, 3.93 ERA). Flaherty is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers. BOSTON (AP) — The last time Dave Dombrowski built a World Series champion, he had to start dismantling it before the celebratory champagne had a chance to dry.He’s hoping to defend the title for real next year.“It is significantly different than the last time,” he said on Thursday, four days after the Red Sox won their fourth title in 15 years and Dombrowski earned a ring to go with the one he won with the binge-and-purge Florida Marlins of the late 1990s.“This will be the first time in my career that we will be going to spring training as the defending champions,” said Dombrowski Tony Conigliaro Jersey , who avoided the term after selling off the stars that won it all in Miami in 1997. “Sometimes when guys become free agents they receive offers they can’t refuse. But we’d like to keep this team together.”After winning the Series in five games on Sunday night, flying back to Boston on Monday and then holding their increasingly routine duck boat parade through the city on Wednesday, the Red Sox are the last team in the majors to start the offseason and think about the 2019 roster.Already, the team has exercised its option on Chris Sale, and David Price decided not to opt out of his deal. Eduardo Nunez also exercised his option to return, forgoing free agency.But key parts of the team that won a franchise-record 108 games and then eliminated the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers in the playoffs can become free agents. Among them: closer Craig Kimbrel, World Series MVP Steve Pearce, and starting pitchers turned relief stars Nathan Eovaldi and Joe Kelly.Also on the list are infielders Ian Kinsler and Brandon Phillips, and pitcher Drew Pomeranz.Manager Alex Cora also said he would like to give it another try with the same players, but he knows that’s not possible. The last team to repeat as World Series champions was the New York Yankees from 1998-2000, and the Red Sox haven’t done it since 1915-16, which is also the last time they won back-to-back AL pennants.“Wherever the offseason takes us, we’re going to be fine Rafael Devers Jersey ,” Cora said. “I can’t wait for the offseason to be over, get to February and start practicing what we are going to do next year. Obviously, that’s the goal: to repeat.”But first, there are free agents to sign or re-sign, and some of the returning players need to bounce back from injuries.Dombrowski said Sale does not need surgery for the left shoulder inflammation that forced the team to scratch him from two postseason starts. “We anticipate him to come to spring training and be 100 percent,” said Dombrowski, the team’s president of baseball operations.Also hoping to take advantage of the offseason is second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who missed almost the entire season — and all of the playoffs — with a knee injury. The 2008 AL MVP came off the disabled list in May and lasted just three games before heading back to the DL.Pedroia was reinstated from the 60-day disabled list on Thursday. Cora said he promised Pedroia, a teammate from the 2007 championship team and the longest-tenured player on the roster, that if he’s ready he can bat leadoff on opening day.“That’s the goal,” Cora said.Also Thursday, the Red Sox reinstated infielder Marco Hernandez and right-handers Austin Maddox and Carson Smith from the 60-day DL; Smith refused an outright assignment to the minors and elected to become a free agent.Infielder Tony Renda and right-hander Justin Haley were also sent outright to the minors.