Cardinals pitcher John Gant got a new label from teammate

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jose Martinez — power hitter.Harrison Bader and Gant hit back-to-back home runs Authentic D.J. Swearinger SR Jersey , Gant pitched into the sixth inning and St. Louis beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-0 on Thursday night.“You hit one, you’re lucky,” Martinez said of Gant’s second blast of the season. “You hit a second one, you’re a power hitter.”The Cardinals have won 17 of 21 and took their tenth consecutive series, their longest series winning streak since 2009, when they also won ten in a row.“It’s an important thing,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “We want to get better as the game goes and we want to get better as the series goes. And if you take care of the series, the rest of it just falls into place.”Gant (6-5) pitched out of a bases-loaded situation in the first and a two-on, no-out jam in the third to win for the third time in his last four tries. He struck out six in 5 2/3 innings and has allowed one earned run in his last 12 2/3 innings.“It was a great team win, a great series win,” Gant said. “Another series win, and we’re going to try to keep on chugging.”Pirates starter Joe Musgrove (5-8) opened the game with 21 consecutive strikes, a first in the majors since pitch tracking began in 1988, according to Stats. That control didn’t do him much good, though. He gave up five runs in six innings.“I came out sharp but I didn’t keep my foot on the gas,” Musgrove said. “I didn’t keep going. That’s got to be done against a good lineup like that.”Musgrove’s strike streak ended with a first-pitch ball to Bader in the third D.J. Swearinger SR Jersey Elite , and two pitches later, Bader went deep to left. Gant then homered on a 2-1 pitch, giving St. Louis consecutive home runs for the seventh time this season.“I’m just trying to make contact and contact was made tonight,” Gant said.Gant tied Miles Mikolas for most home runs among St. Louis pitchers this season. After starting his career 0 for 30, Gant has homered twice in his last six at-bats. He is the third pitcher in the expansion era to have his first two career hits as home runs.Shildt said Gant put in a gutty performance.“He was making pitches,” Shildt said. “He missed a few spots and the guys made some plays, but John’s a really good competitor, he’s a mentally tough guy, so he was really just able to compete with what he had and used all his pitches.”Martinez singled and scored in the fourth and drove in two more with a single in the fifth to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. Martinez has hit safely in 20 of 25 games in August and has a team-high 18 multi-RBI games.“He was actually trying to mix in some pitches and he was throwing some different pitches than we were expecting,” Martinez said of Musgrove. “We just had to make the adjustments.”Pittsburgh lost for the seventh time in its last nine games. The Pirates stranded 12 runners and went 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.“There was hard contact,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “It’s not fair. There’s times when it’s not fair. You hit hard balls, you hit them right at people but you’ve just got to play man.”FACE IN THE CROWDSt. Louis Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko signed autographs on the field before the game.TRAINING ROOMCardinals: OF Marcell Ozuna (right shoulder inflammation) took batting practice Thursday and is on track to return from the 10-day disabled list when eligible on Sept. 1.UP NEXTPirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (10-9, 3.49 ERA) kicks off a three-game series on the road against the Atlanta Braves and RHP Anibal Sanchez (6-5, 3.05 ERA). Taillon has allowed three earned runs or fewer in his last 16 starts.Cardinals: LHP Austin Gomber (4-0, 2.79 ERA) will open a three-game home series Friday night against the Cincinnati Reds and RHP Homer Bailey (1-12, 6.17 ERA). The Cardinals are 6-0 when Gomber starts. BOSTON — Having flexed their muscles with wins in the first two games of the series http://www.washingtonredskinsteamonline.com/d.j.-swearinger-jersey , the Cleveland Indians send 15-game winner Carlos Carrasco to the mound against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.The Indians, who hit three home runs in coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win Monday night, hit two more Tuesday in the second game between the two division leaders, a 6-3 victory.Carrasco, 15-6 with a 3.33 ERA, faces left-hander Brian Johnson, who will try to help the Red Sox, losers of three games in three days, avoid what would be their first four-game losing streak of the season.Article continues below ...For the second straight night, Greg Allen and Melky Cabrera tormented the Red Sox. Allen went 2-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and also drove in a run and made two outstanding catches and Cabrera had three hits, including a homer for the second straight game in the series — the third in a row overall.Two teams with substantial leads in their divisions — a hyped series that could be a playoff preview.“We just wanted to win tonight. That’s all,” said Indians manager Terry Francona. “I don’t care about that stuff.“They’re a really good team and we played a good game. But now we’ve got to play a better game tomorrow.”The Red Sox, who still lead the Yankees by eight games atop the American League East, have seen the lead chopped by 2 1/2 games in the last three days. They lost three in a row way back in April but have not lost four in a row all season.“We’re not swinging the bat well right now since (Tyler) Glasnow on Saturday, then the bullpen game on Sunday,” said Boston manager Alex Cora. “These guys. It seemed like yesterday we were waking up early but then they did a good job and today we were unable to get something going until that inning.“So David Price Jersey , we’ll come back tomorrow and look for pitches in the middle of the zone and try to hit it in the air and hopefully they go out of the ballpark.”Speaking about the Indians, Cora said, “It’s a tough lineup because they don’t strike out. They will put the ball in play; they found ways. So we got to be able to expand somewhere, probably up in the zone, and obviously down with the breaking ball late in counts. But I think it was more about them than actually Nate (Eovaldi, the starter and loser).”Carrasco, who has forced his way into the Cy Young talk, has gone 7-1 in July and August and has thrown back-to-back seven-inning shutout efforts his last two times out. He is 1-2 with a 6.83 ERA in seven games — five starts — lifetime against the Red Sox, 0-1 in four games — three starts — at Fenway.Johnson is 4-3 with a 4.00 ERA overall but is 3-0 as a starter in August, with the offense helping him out. He has yielded 17 hits and 12 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings in those starts but does have 19 strikeouts over that span.Brock Holt is 4-for-5 (.800), Xander Bogaerts 3-for-7 (.429), J.D. Martinez 9-for-25 (.360) with two home runs and Mitch Moreland 5-for-14 (.357) with three homers against Carrasco. But Mookie Betts is 1-for-8 (.125) and Ian Kinsler 11-for-50 (.220) against the right-hander.Johnson has never faced the Indians.