Carpenter’s 10th-inning hit lifts Cards over Cubs

Matt Carpenter hit a game-ending, bases-loaded single in the 10th inning to send the host St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.Carpenter sent a fly ball the opposite way to a largely vacant left field, as the Cubs had loaded four defenders on the right side of the infield. The hit off Steve Cishek scored Kolten Wong, who had doubled into the right field corner with one out, and secured the Cardinals’ first walk-off victory of the season.Chicago relievers Kyle Ryan, Brad Brach and Brandon Kintzler collaborated on three innings of perfect, three-strikeout relief before St. Louis’ 10th-inning rally against Mike Montgomery (1-1), Dillon Maples and Cishek.Jordan Hicks (2-2) was the winner, pitching hitless ball in the ninth and 10th with two walks and two strikeouts. Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish turned in one of his sharpest starts of the season, pitching six innings of three-hit, one-run ball with six strikeouts and three walks. St. Louis capitalised on Darvish’s early control issues to score a first-inning run. After Darvish walked the first two hitters, cleanup batter Marcell Ozuna contributed a sacrifice fly to give the Cardinals an early lead.Darvish settled down after that, retiring nine in a row before Paul Goldschmidt collected the Cardinals’ first hit, a leadoff single in the fourth. The Cardinals threatened with two on and one out in the fifth but were unable to score, as pitcher Miles Mikolas struck out on a foul bunt and Carpenter struck out looking at a payoff pitch.Mikolas also took a no-decision with seven innings of one-run ball, spacing six hits, three strikeouts and two walks. The lone run he yielded came in the second, when Darvish hit a sacrifice fly to score Victor Caratini, who led off the inning with a ground-rule double.Chicago also had its chances against Mikolas. The Cubs couldn’t cash in with the bases loaded and two outs in the first. Chicago collected consecutive singles to start the fourth but followed with a flyout and a double-play grounder. Albert Almora Jr. hit a two-out triple in the seventh, but the Cubs were unable to score. Wong (2-for-4) was the only player with a multi-hit game.Surging Yankees dump Red SoxAaron Hicks hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the third inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 on Friday night in the opener of a rain-shortened, three-game series at Yankee Stadium. After rain postponed Thursday’s scheduled series opener, the Yankees improved to 3-0 against the Red Sox this year and continued to roll. New York beat Chris Sale (1-7) for the second time this year and won for the 14th time in 17 games overall. Hicks gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead with two outs in the third when he came back from an 0-2 count and hit a full-count pitch from Sale into left field, scoring Brett Gardner and DJ LeMahieu. LeMahieu hit a game-tying double off the right-center field fence earlier in the third and then hit his sixth homer in the fifth inning to make it 4-1. LeMahieu’s two clutch hits occurred after he struck out to start the game against Sale, who opened the game by striking out the side. Rafael Devers homered in the second inning for the Red Sox, who dropped their third straight and scored two runs or fewer for the fifth time in a game started by Sale. Sale allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk in six innings. He recorded his sixth double-digit strikeout game of the season by getting 10 strikeouts.