ble on his first pitch, with Dozier driving it into the seats for his 31st homer. The Twins made it 2-0 on Miguel Sanos RBI sing

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Cardinals relied on power and the pitching of Carlos Martinez to solve their home woes Friday night.Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty supplied two-run homers for the National Leagues leading home run team and Martinez (14-7) pitched seven strong innings in a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.The win improved the Cardinals to 31-38 at Busch Stadium and kept them a half-game behind the New York Mets for the NLs second wild card.Jimmy Nelson (7-14) retired the first eight Cardinals before Martinez started a two-out rally with a single up the middle. Carpenter followed with his 19th home run, Kolten Wong walked and Piscotty gave St. Louis the lead by hitting his 21st homer into the bullpen in right field.That gave me the extra energy to make it through and get the win for the team, Martinez said of the long balls.Martinez gave up nine hits and hit two batters in seven innings but was helped by three double plays. He equaled his win total from last season and improved to 3-0 in four starts against Milwaukee.Hes our guy right now, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. Carlos has been so consistent weve begun to anticipate hes going to have that strong outing.Nelson lasted six innings and allowed five hits but fell to 0-7 in eight career starts against St. Louis.The two guys that can really hurt him, hurt him, Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. Make mistakes to those guys and thats whats going to happen.Its just a crazy game and stuff happens, Nelson said. Theres never really just one answer in this game to anything. You dont want to think theres something wrong and start overanalyzing stuff so you just try to keep it simple.Scooter Gennetts two-run homer in the third gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead. Milwaukee scored an unearned run in the first when Gennett walked, Chris Carter was hit by a pitch and Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a hard one-hopper that shortstop Jedd Gyorko did not handle.After the first-inning error, the Cardinals defense later stopped two potential rallies. Piscotty made a running, over-the-head catch that saved a run in the sixth and Wong helped Martinez escape the third by making strong plays on two grounders at second base.Defense showed up, for sure, Piscotty said.Wong reached base three times by walking twice and getting hit by a pitch.Im just tired of people thinking that Im not good, said Wong, who has been relegated to backup duty much of the season. I believe in myself to the fullest.Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 17th save in 20 chances.DOUBLING UPMartinez induced double-play grounders in the second and third innings to increase his NL-leading total to 32, two shy of the Cardinals team record set by John Denny in 1978. Wong backhanded a grounder up the middle and scooped the ball from his glove to Gyorko to start the third-inning double play. Thats one of the best plays weve seen here, Matheny said. The Brewers popped out into a double play in the fourth.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: SS Aledmys Diaz (right thumb) went 2 for 4 for Double-A Springfield in a rehab start Friday night. ... RHP Trevor Rosenthal (shoulder inflammation) will throw to hitters Saturday for the first time since he went on the DL on July 26.UP NEXTBrewers: RHP Chase Anderson (8-11, 4.73) has allowed three earned runs in 10 1/3 innings in two starts at Busch Stadium this season.Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (10-8, 4.61) has allowed one home run at home this season but has lost his past two home starts.Brandon Nimmo Mets Jersey . Blackwood, 28, has played the last three seasons in the San Diego Padres system, including the past two summers with Class AA San Antonio of the Texas League. Steven Matz Jersey . Howard Ganz, an MLB lawyer, said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos that Rodriguezs claims do not come "remotely close" to what is needed to overturn an arbitration decision in federal court. http://www.metsbaseballauthentic.com/steven-matz-mets-jersey/ . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. Devin Mesoraco Mets Jersey . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. Michael Conforto Jersey . Miller finished in two minutes, 6.09 seconds, one day before the first medal race on the Alpine schedule. The 36-year-old American also turned in the top time in Thursdays opening training session.CLEVELAND -- Francisco Lindor drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth inning and the Cleveland Indians survived another poor start by Josh Tomlin to beat Minnesota 5-4 on Tuesday, extending the Twins losing streak to 12 games.Lindors double off Alex Wimmers (0-1) snapped a 4-4 tie and helped the Indians maintain their lead over second-place Detroit in the AL Central.Rajai Davis hit a three-run homer and Jason Kipnis added a solo shot for Cleveland, which trailed 4-1 in the second after the Twins knocked around Tomlin. Dan Otero (4-1) pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings, Bryan Shaw worked out of a jam in the seventh and Andrew Miller got five outs for his third save since joining Cleveland.Minnesotas current slide is the third longest in club history. The Twins lost 13 straight in 1961 and a team-record 14 consecutive games in 1982.Brian Dozier homered for the Twins, winless since Aug. 17.As the playoff race heats up, the Indians found some outfield depth, agreeing on a trade to acquire Coco Crisp from Oakland. A person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press the sides are only awaiting approval from Major League Baseball. The 36-year-old Crisp began his career with Cleveland in 2002.Clevelands offense has been in a funk, but it awakened in time to offset the shortest outing of Tomlins career. The right-hander was tagged for four runs and seven hits in just 1 2/3 innings.With runners at first and second in the fifth, Lindor barely missed hitting a three-run homer when his shot caromed high off the wall in left-center. Davis scored easily from second, but Kipnis was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Eduardo Escobar, who made a perfect relay.The Indians had two runners thrown out at third and one at home.Down 4-1, the Indians, who had scored one run or fewer in seven of the past eight games, tied it on Davis three-run shot in the second off Andrew Albers.dddddddddddd. Abraham Almonte doubled and Chris Gimenez walked before David connected on his 12th homer, a shot to left that bailed out Tomlin.It was another troubling performance for Tomlin, who is 0-5 with an 11.47 ERA in his last six starts and could soon find himself out of Clevelands rotation. He started the season 7-0, but has been plagued by home runs, giving up 10 in his last six outings.Tomlin was in trouble on his first pitch, with Dozier driving it into the seats for his 31st homer. The Twins made it 2-0 on Miguel Sanos RBI single.Cleveland got a run back on Kipnis 21st homer.TRAINERS ROOMTwins: RHP Trevor May (strained back) will throw a bullpen session at Target Field on Wednesday. He has been on the 15-day disabled list since Aug. 7.Indians: OF Michael Brantley expects to wear a sling for six more weeks as he recovers from his second surgery since November. The former All-Star only played 11 games this season and endured numerous setbacks as he tried to come back from offseason right shoulder surgery. He had an operation on his biceps earlier this month.UP NEXTTwins: Pat Dean makes his second start since being recalled Aug. 12. The right-hander lasted just three innings in his previous start, allowing six runs and eight hits in a loss to Toronto.Indians: Making a run at his second AL Cy Young Award in three seasons, Corey Kluber (14-8) starts the series finale. He hasnt lost since July 3, going 6-0 in his last nine starts. Kluber led the AL with 16 losses last season. ' ' '