Cardinals are already better than last year in one way

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with the long ball in St. Louis.

When the season began, St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was optimistic his team would hit for power with more success than it did a year ago and with the All-Star break not too far back in the rearview mirror, the Cardinals already have surpassed their 2015 home run total.

Jedd Gyorko hit a home run in both games of a doubleheader for the second time this season as the Cardinals split the games in New York with the Mets on Tuesday. Gyorko is the first Cardinals player to hit home runs in both games of a doubleheader twice in one season since 1949 when Stan Musial did so.

Gyorko’s home runs came off Mets starters Noah Syndergaard in the first game, a 3-2 Cardinals’ win, and Bartolo Colon in the nightcap, a 3-1 Mets victory. Gyorko now has 14 home runs.

St. Louis has now hit 138 home runs this season, which is one more than it hit in all of last season and the Cardinals still have 62 games to play.

The Cardinals have eight players with double-digit home run totals but no one who has hit more than 17. Only three teams as of late Tuesday night — the Orioles, Blue Jays and Mariners — had hit more home runs than the Cardinals this season.

If those eight players can all reach the 20-home run mark, St. Louis would become the first team in MLB history to have eight players hit at least 20 home runs in the same season.

That’s quite a turnaround from a year ago when the Cardinals hit the fewest number of home runs in the major leagues but still managed to finish with the best regular-season record. This season, it’s possible the Cardinals won’t make the playoffs.

TOP PERFORMERS

Devon Travis: It’s not often a guy goes 1-for-4 in a game and gets attention here. Travis got on base in the 12th inning by forcing a walk in a 14-pitch at-bat. He eventually came around to score the winning run for Toronto as the Blue Jays rallied to score three in the frame to beat San Diego 7-6. Travis scored on a wild pitch from Paul Clemens.

James Shields: The veteran right-hander allowed four hits in 72/3 innings before handing off to the bullpen in the Chicago White Sox 3-0 win over the Chicago Cubs. Shields walked four and struck five. It’s the sixth consecutive start in which Shields has given up two or fewer runs.

Marwin Gonzalez: Houston’s versatile Venezuelan hit a home run from both sides of the plate in the same game but it wasn’t enough to get the Astros past the Yankees, who won 6-3. It was the first multi-homer game of Gonzalez’s career.

Yunel Escobar: The Los Angeles Angels third baseman went 5-for-5 in the leadoff role, scored two runs and drove in another in a 13-0 romp over Kansas City Royals, who had three different pitchers give up at least four runs each.

Brandon Crawford: The Giants’ shortstop went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs in a 9-7 win over the Reds. Crawford tripled to right-center field in the seventh inning adding to a pair of singles.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

Francisco Lindor singled to right in the bottom of the ninth inning driving in Chris Gimenez with the winning run to cap a three-run rally to beat the Washington Nationals. The Indians got some help from Washington first baseman Ryan Zimmerman who made a crucial throwing error in the ninth inning on a sacrifice bunt by Gimenez.

THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD

Marlins 5, Phillies 0: Ichiro Suzuki inched closer to the 3,000-hit mark by going 1-for-5 for hit No. 2,997. Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs.

Mariners 7, Pirates 4: Kyle Seager hit his 20th home run of the season in the third inning and four Mariners relievers combined to not allow a run in the final three innings.

Tigers 9, Red Sox 8: Robbie Ross Jr. walked in the winning run with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning. Miguel Cabrera hit his 20th home run of the season.

Rockies 6, Orioles 3: Carlos Gonzalez hit a two-run double to start a four-run four-run third inning for Colorado. Chad Bettis won his third consecutive outing.

A’s 6, Rangers 3: Sonny Gray struck out eight Texas batters and three Oakland hitters hit home runs, including Josh Reddick, who drove in three runs.

Dodgers 3, Rays 2: Los Angeles starter Bud Norris pitched shutout baseball into the seventh inning and the bullpen held on to win despite some shaky moments.

Braves 2, Twins 0: Adonis Garcia went 2-for-4 and hit a solo home run. Lucas Harrell allowed four hits over six innings to earn the victory for Atlanta.

Brewers 9, Diamondbacks 4: Arizona’s bullpen gave up five runs in the eighth inning to lose what had been a tie game.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo