Hernandez power Phillies to overpower Cardinals 5-0

Cesar Hernandez homered, doubled and drove in three runs to lift the visiting Philadelphia Phillies past the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 on Wednesday. Nick Williams added two hits for the Phillies, who used a four-run fifth inning to win their second in a row to capture the three-game series.

Phillies starter Jerad Eickhoff (2-1) pitched a stellar game, giving up three hits in eight innings. Eickhoff threw 106 pitches, struck out four and walked three. The shutout victory came hours after learning that longtime Phillies chairman David Montgomery died Wednesday morning at the age of 72.

Yairo Munoz had two of the Cardinals' three hits. St. Louis also committed a pair of errors. Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty (3-3) tossed five innings and gave up four hits and four runs, three earned. Flaherty walked three and struck out two.

Both the Phillies and Cardinals managed only one hit apiece through the first four innings of a scoreless game. The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when J.T. Realmuto walked and then scored on a double to left-center field by Odubel Herrera. Williams followed with a single, sending Herrera to third.

Philadelphia went ahead 2-0 when Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter misplayed a slow grounder by Maikel Franco, the error allowing Herrera to score. Two more runs scored when Hernandez ripped a two-run double to left for a 4-0 advantage.

Munoz had the lone hit for the Cardinals through five innings. In the sixth, the Cardinals had a runner on first with two outs but Paul Goldschmidt flied out to Bryce Harper at the warning track in right.

Hernandez hit a solo home run with one out in the seventh off Cardinals reliever Giovanny Gallegos for a 5-0 Phillies lead. Serathony Dominguez pitched the ninth for the Phillies and opened by inducing Goldschmidt to ground out to Hernandez at second base. Paul DeJong then struck out swinging and Marcell Ozuna grounded out to Jean Segura at shortstop for the final out.

(With inputs from agencies.)