(AP) Dexter Fowler isn’t going to share the advice he received from hitting coach John Mabry before his seventh-inning grand slam on Thursday night.
The mysterious pearls of wisdom helped the St. Louis outfielder cap off a career-high five-RBI night as the Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals 8-6.
Fowler helped St. Louis tie a season-high with its sixth straight win. Kansas City has lost four in a row and six of seven. St. Louis climbed within one game of the first-place Chicago Cubs in the NL Central.
Fowler broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with his 15th homer of the season. He ripped the first pitch from Neftali Feliz for his third career slam.
Lorenzo Cain had four hits for the Royals, who lost all four games in the four-game, home-and-home set.
Fowler ripped a run-scoring double to trigger a three-run outburst in the sixth inning that helped erase a 3-0 deficit.
Fowler’s grand slam came at the perfect time.
Trevor Rosenthal recorded four outs to pick up his 10th save in 12 opportunities.
Pinch-hitter Brandon Moss brought the Royals within 7-5 with a two-run, bases-loaded double in the eighth that came within a foot of clearing the wall. Whit Merrifield followed with a sacrifice fly. But Rosenthal got Cain to fly out with the tying run on third.
St. Louis has scored 54 runs during the six-game streak.
Tyler Lyons (1-0) picked up the win in relief of Lance Lynn, who surrendered two earned runs in six innings. Mike Minor (5-4) took the loss.
Melky Cabrera gave the Royals a 3-0 lead with a two-run triple in the fifth.
Kansas City starter Jason Hammel gave up two earned runs and three hits over five-plus innings. He has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his last seven starts.
Cain tied a career high with his four hits. He has 15 hits in his last 29 plate appearances.
