PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Carpenter homered in two straight games entering Sunday. By contrast Max Kepler Jersey , Jack Flaherty had allowed at least one home run in each of his previous three starts.Carpenter kept his streak going while Flaherty brought his to an end to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.Flaherty (5-6) allowed three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in six innings. It marked the first time he completed six innings since July 3, when he surrendered four runs in six against the Arizona Diamondbacks.Carpenter hit a solo home run in the fifth inning — his career-high 29th of the season, tying him with Colorado’s Nolan Arenado for the NL lead — and Jedd Gyorko singled to drive in a run later that inning to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.“(Leading the National League in home runs) is definitely not something I’ve ever really thought about,” Carpenter said. “It’s just a crazy stretch. There’s not much thought behind it other than I’m just trying to hit the ball hard. I’m really not trying to hit home runs. It just happens.”St. Louis took the final two games of the three-game series to move past Pittsburgh into third place alone in the NL Central.“Just good baseball,” interim Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “It started on the mound. Jack was really, really tough through six innings. Offense competed well. … Some tough at bats, good at bats, and good pitching all the way through.”Bud Norris retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the ninth for his 21st save.Flaherty recovered after giving up four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings of a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies in his last start.He got out of trouble twice on Sunday, first when the Pirates had runners on second and third with one out. Corey Dickerson struck out and Starling Marte grounded out to end the third inning. With runners on first and third two innings later, Flaherty forced Jordan Luplow into an inning-ending double play.“That was more where I kind of wanted to be at,” Flaherty said. “It was nice to make adjustments from the last time out, the last few times out, just to try to get ahead. Once it was get ahead http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-zach-duke-jersey , it was stay ahead.”Carpenter’s home run to right with one out in the fifth ended Trevor Williams‘ streak of 21½ innings without allowing a run. That stretched back to July 6, when Williams (9-8) gave up three runs in the third inning of a 17-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.“At that point of the game, you are upset they are up 1-0. That’s what I was worried about,” Williams said. “Knowing how good Flaherty was throwing and how well he was executing his pitches, it was tough. It’s unfortunate that that one blink cost the game today, but that’s kind of how baseball is right now.”After the homer, Williams surrendered consecutive singles to Yadier Molina and Jose Martinez before Gyorko scored Molina with a single to left. Williams allowed those two runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in five innings.Adam Frazier hit a home run off reliever Chasen Shreve to make it 2-1 in the seventh.“Now we go on the road and it’s (against) good teams,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “I just love the fact that we are in the hunt. Time to go. We would have loved to won more games here. We did not. Now, it’s time to go put a better package together on the road.”ROSTER MOVESCardinals: RHP Tyson Ross was claimed off waivers from the San Diego Padres and will join St. Louis in Miami. He was 6-9 with a 4.45 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 22 starts for the Padres this season.Pirates: RHP Casey Sadler was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. RHP Alex McRae, who allowed three runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief Saturday, was optioned to Indianapolis.TRAINER’S ROOMPirates: Dickerson started in left field for the first time since missing eight games with left hamstring discomfort. He hit leadoff and was 0 for 3 with one walk. … INF David Freese did not play because of a right forearm contusion suffered Friday.UP NEXTCardinals: RHP Luke Weaver (6-9, 4.75) will attempt to keep his string of impressive performances going when he faces the Miami Marlins on Monday. He has surrendered three runs or fewer in five straight starts since giving up eight in an 11-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves on June 30.Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (4-5, 3.63) will look for a third straight quality start when he takes the mound against the Rockies on Monday. In his last two starts Michael Pineda Jersey , Musgrove has allowed three combined runs on 10 hits in 14 innings. WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Nationals outlasted the weather and the Chicago Cubs on Saturday night — and early Sunday.Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and the Nationals rallied past the Cubs 6-5 to sweep a doubleheader delayed more than 3½ hours by rain.Max Scherzer pitched a complete game and Washington took advantage of the sloppy Cubs for a 10-3 victory in the opener. By the end of a long night, Chicago’s lead in the NL Central was down to 2½ games over Milwaukee.Anthony Rendon’s double off Steve Cishek scored Trea Turner to pull Washington to 5-4 in the seventh inning of the nightcap. Left-hander Justin Wilson (4-4) came on to face Harper, who drove a 1-1 pitch to straightaway center field for his 32nd home run. Harper also walked three times.“Patience, really,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said when asked what it took to get through the very long day and night.“It was nasty. It’s nasty for both teams. We’re pretty much at the mercy of the league and the rain, really. I’m proud of the guys just sticking in there and finishing the job.”Rendon had a solo homer and Adrian Sanchez added two hits and two RBIs for Washington.Wander Suero (2-0) got two outs for the win. Following an 89-minute rain delay in the middle of the eighth, Greg Holland worked the ninth to earn his second save in a game that ended at 1:44 a.m. on Sunday.Victor Caratini hit his first career grand slam off Nationals starter Jefry Rodriguez to give Chicago a 4-0 lead in the fourth.Washington pulled to 4-3 in the sixth on Rendon’s homer and an RBI double by Sanchez.Cubs starter Cole Hamels left with the lead after allowing three runs in 5 2/3 innings.“We got on top, we had a nice lead, Cole was pitching well and all of sudden they just rallied from behind,” manager Joe Maddon said. “We had the right pitchers lined up, they were rested, and (the Nationals) got us. They absolutely got us.”Bidding for a third straight NL Cy Young Award, Scherzer (17-6) gave up nine hits and struck out 11 without a walk. He also had an RBI single Fernando Rodney Jersey , raising his batting average to .270 this season.It was one of just six hits for Washington, which capitalized on nine walks and three errors by the Cubs. The Nationals scored five runs in the sixth on just two hits thanks to two errors and a wild pitch that resulted in a run.Martinez visited Scherzer on the mound after the Cubs scored twice in the ninth, but left his ace in to get the final two outs.“He asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to finish it,” Scherzer said, noting the 66-degree game-time temperature had him feeling good. “We’ve been playing some hot games and for the weather to cool off, you just felt like you had unlimited energy and for me, I still had plenty in the tank.”Scherzer retired 15 in a row during one stretch. He lost his shutout in the seventh.It was Scherzer’s second complete game of the season and 10th of his career.After Friday night’s game was rained out following more than four hours of delays, the start of Saturday’s first game was held up by showers for 2 hours, 10 minutes.Maddon went with a bullpen game, and the Nationals jumped in front early. Jaime Garcia (3-7), making his Cubs debut, walked the bases loaded with one out in the first inning and Juan Soto sent a hard grounder past first baseman Anthony Rizzo that was ruled a two-run single. That was all for Garcia, and Washington’s Matt Wieters provided a third run with an RBI single.A LA CARTSean Doolittle of Washington became the first reliever to use the Nationals Park bullpen cart http://www.twinsfanproshop.com/authentic-addison-reed-jersey , which debuted Aug. 17. “I had a lot of fun,” Doolittle said. “It was a really smooth ride.”WERTH HONOREDThe Nationals held a ceremony on the field between games placing outfielder Jayson Werth in their Ring of Honor. Signed to a $126 million, seven-year contract as a free agent after the 2010 season, Werth hit .263 with 109 homers and 393 RBIs and served as a team leader. The Nationals, who had not made the postseason prior to his arrival, won four NL East titles during his time with them. Werth threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the second game, with his son catching.TRAINER’S ROOMCubs: RF Ben Zobrist returned for the opener after being out of Friday’s lineup due to neck stiffness.UP NEXTCubs LHP Mike Montgomery (4-5, 3.76 ERA) opposes Nationals RHP Erick Fedde (1-3, 6.00) in Sunday’s series finale.