MIAMI • Matt Carpenter doesn’t fit the traditional profile of a 30-30 hitter in baseball because the latter number refers to stolen bases. He has only one of those this year.
But Carpenter reached 30-30 in a different fashion Tuesday night, crashing his 30th homer on a full-count pitch from Elieser Hernandez in the eighth inning as the Cardinals rallied for a 3-2 win over a nettlesome Miami Marlins club. Coupled with his 33 doubles, the Cardinals’ leadoff man became the first player in the majors to post that particular quinella this year.
It was also the first time in his career Carpenter had ascended the 30-homer plateau and it was his fourth homer in his past five games.