PHOENIX (AP) — Eugenio Suárez homered twice for the second consecutive day and Merrill Kelly allowed two runs in six innings to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Sunday.
Suárez has six multihomer games this season — including a four-homer game on April 26 — and leads the majors with 20 home runs since June 1. He launched a three-run drive off starter Miles Mikolas (5-7) in the first inning and a solo shot in the third.
The slugger leads the National League with 35 homers, one more than Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, and his 85 RBIs are tops in the big leagues — two ahead of Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh.
Yohel Pozo, Jordan Walker and Victor Scott II drew consecutive walks to load the bases for St. Louis with no outs in the fifth. Pozo scored on Brendan Donovan’s groundout to make it 5-2, but Kelly (9-5) struck out Iván Herrera before Alec Burleson grounded out to end the threat.
Walker’s RBI double in the ninth capped the scoring.
Scott hit a leadoff double in the third and stole third base before an RBI single by Herrera made it 4-1.
Key moment
Corbin Carroll hit a leadoff triple in the Arizona first and scored when Geraldo Perdomo reached on a fielder’s choice. Perdomo stole second and Josh Naylor drew a walk before Suárez’s homer gave the Diamondbacks a 4-0 lead.
Key stat
The 34-year-old Suárez has six home runs and 10 RBIs in the past five games.
Up next
The Cardinals begin a three-game series Monday against Colorado, while Arizona faces Houston.