ST. LOUIS (AP) Stephen Piscotty returned to St. Louis for the first time since being traded after the 2017 season, and his Oakland A's defeated his former team 7-3 Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
Chad Pinder and Marcus Semien homered in a six-run fifth inning to rally the A's past the Cardinals.
Matt Olson also went deep to help Oakland win for the sixth time in eight games.
Tha A's, who had totaled nine runs over their last three games, overcame a 3-1 deficit with the big fifth inning to knock out Cardinals starter Jack FLaherty (4-5).
Josh Phegley opened the inning with a ground-rule double, and Pinder homered to left to tie the score. Semien followed with his shot to center to put Oakland ahead 4-3. The A's scored three more runs on three singles - including Stephen Pisciotty's run-scoring hit - and pinch-hitter Khris Davis' two-run double off reliever John Brebbia.
Flaherty gave up a season-high seven runs and nine hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings. He gave up three homers to raise his total to nine allowed in five June starts. Overall, Flaherty has given up 18 homers in 16 starts this season.
J.B. Wendelken (1-1) picked up his first MLB victory after spending time with Oakland in parts of three seasons. He got the final two outs of the fourth inning and was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth.
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The Athletics went ahead 1-0 in the second when Olson led off with a home run to left field.
The Cardinals went ahead with a three-run second. Matt Carpenter tripled with two outs, driving in Yadier Molina and Kolten Wong. He hit a deep fly to center and Ramon Laureano fell down after turning the wrong way on the ball. It landed just in front of the wall and Laureano for Carpenter's second triple this season. He scored on a double by Paul DeJong for a 3-1 lead.
Oakland's Chris Bassitt was lifted for a reliever after 3 1/3 innings. It was his shortest stint in his 12 starts this season. He allowed three runs and four hits with four walks.
