sINDIANS & PIRATES Saturday’s game recaps

INDIANS

Tribe hits four homers to beat Astros, 8-6

CLEVELAND

Yonder Alonso, Jason Kipnis, Edwin Encarnacion and Michael Brantley hit home runs as the Indians beat the Houston Astros 8-6 Saturday night.

Encarnacion also singled and doubled and went 3 for 3 to help offset Houston’s Jose Altuve, who went 4 for 4 with a triple and a home run.

The victory moved the Indians back to .500 at 25-25. They lead the American League Central Division.

Carlos Carrasco (6-3) got the win. He allowed five runs — all earned — in 52/3 innings and struck out eight.

Relievers Zach McAllister, Tyler Olson, Dan Otero and Cody Allen finished the game. Allen worked the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.

The game started an hour late because of run.

PIRATES

Phillies rookie shuts down Pirates’ bats

pittsburgh

Jack Flaherty allowed four hits over six innings, Matt Carpenter hit his fifth home run of the season and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Saturday.

Flaherty (2-1) followed up a dominant performance against Philadelphia last Sunday by keeping the Pirates in check. Flaherty gave up Starling Marte’s long home run in the first but settled down quickly. The rookie struck out four, walked two and didn’t allow a runner to third base over his final five innings. Bud Norris worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save.

Carpenter finished 2 for 5, including a blast off Trevor Williams (5-3) leading off the game that cleared the right-field seats. Jose Martinez added three hits for the Cardinals, who bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season on Friday night to topple the Pirates for the first time in five tries.

Williams lasted just four innings and 65 pitches, his shortest start of the season. The right-hander gave up four runs on seven hits with three walks.

Marte went 2 for 4 in his return from a stint on the disabled list with a strained right oblique. His shot off Flaherty in the first cleared both bullpens behind the fence in center field, clanging off a fence 447 feet away from home plate. The Pirates have dropped six of eight.

Flaherty overwhelmed the Phillies last weekend, tying a franchise rookie record when he racked up 13 strikeouts. He wasn’t quite as dominant against the Pirates but had little trouble after Marte’s blast.

Associated Press