Yadier Molina went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals evened the three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies with a 9-4 victory on Saturday.

Nolan Arenado and Paul DeJong also homered for the Cardinals, who led 9-3 after hitting back-to-back homers twice in the first four innings.

Philadelphia lost for the fourth time in their last five games and played without star Bryce Harper, who was held out of the contest with lower back tightness.

The Phillies took an early lead in the first on Alec Bohm’s RBI single off Kwang Hyun Kim before St. Louis erupted for six runs with two outs in the third.

Left-hander Matt Moore (0-1) retired the first two batters in the third before Paul Goldschmidt singled, Arenado walked and Molina delivered a three-run blast to left field. DeJong followed with his third homer just over the center-field fence and the Cardinals added two more runs to move ahead 6-1.

Moore allowed six runs (five earned) with five walks over 2 2/3 innings and has a 9.82 ERA in his first three starts with his new team.

Philadelphia responded with two runs in the third off Kim, who gave up three runs over three innings on 68 pitches in his season debut after being sidelined with back tightness. Right-hander Ryan Helsley (2-0) followed Kim and was credited with his fifth career victory.

Goldschmidt singled to begin the fourth before Arenado homered to left field and Molina followed with a 391-foot blast to left field for the eighth multi-homer game of his career.

The Cardinals have homered in 17 straight games at Citizens Bank Park, setting the longest home run streak by a visiting team in the stadium’s history.

Tommy Edman reached on an infield single in the top of the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 12 games for St. Louis, which bounced back from a 9-2 loss in the series opener.

Rhys Hoskins had three hits for the Phillies and cut the margin to 9-4 in the fifth when he came around to score from first base on Didi Gregorius’ two-out double.

–Field Level Media