Dietrich helps Marlins beat Cardinals 6

St. Louis won the game 3-1.

Hand worked seven innings of two-hit ball at Atlanta in his last start and had allowed one run in 11 innings his first two starts since rejoining the rotation.

The Cardinals had a 3-1 lead before the Marlins scored four times in the fifth. The pitcher bunted, and Martinez niftily fielded the ball and flipped it home to get the lead runner, Adeiny Hechavarria.

Jason Heyward homered twice and drove in three runs for St. Louis, which sports the best home record in the majors at 44-18.

“Tying Ty Cobb, that just goes to show you what kind of career Ichiro has had”, Marlins center fielder Cole Gillespie said.

The 10-time All-Star never had less than 206 hits in his first 10 years in the league. Garcia took a 3-0 lead into the ninth and began the inning by striking out Martin Prado.

Adrian Beltre ripped his 406 career homer – a solo blast in the third inning – to help carry the Rangers to victory Sunday. He’ll try to keep it all rolling next time out in San Diego. He allowed seven hits and fanned five while also committing a balk on a day that didn’t belong to the Cardinals.

That was the first of four runs the Marlins scored in the inning. Matt Carpenter went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs on Friday and is 14-for-38 with five blasts and 10 RBIs during his 10-game hitting streak.

If trying to beat Martinez isn’t enough of an obstacle for the Marlins (46-70) – losers of 15 of 20 – history is not on their side with Phelps (4-8, 4.35) pitching.

In Boston, Travis Shaw hit two home runs and Rusney Castillo hit one to carry the Red Sox in a rout over Seattle.

Eric Hosmer, Alex Rios, Zobrist and Morales registered one RBI apiece for the Royals.

Carlos Martinez exited following the fifth having thrown just 74 pitches. Lackey surrendered nine hits, including a sixth-inning Justin Bour home run, but it was yet another solid start for the veteran right-hander, who now boasts a 2.87 ERA through 159 2/3 innings this season for St. Louis.

“I’ve got my first hit, my first RBI, and now this”, he said.