
St. Louis slugger Matt Carpenter tied a Major League Baseball record on Friday with three home runs and two doubles in the Cardinals 18-5 victory over the Cubs in Chicago.
Carpenter became just the second modern major league player -- after the Cubs' Kris Bryant -- to hit three homers and two doubles in a game.
He's the first to pile up five extra-base hits in the first six innings of a game.
He drove in a career-high seven runs and scored seven.
The sensational six-inning performance came on the 14th anniversary of Albert Pujols' three-homer game for the Cards at Wrigley Field.
Carpenter got things rolling with his 21st career leadoff home run -- off Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester.
With that he tied Hall of Fame outfielder Lou Brock for most leadoff homers in Cardinals' history.
An inning later, Carpenter belted another two-out pitch from Lester 421 feet to push the Cardinals' lead to five runs.
Carpenter produced two doubles in the Cardinals' seven-run fourth inning and hit a three-run homer to right field to put St. Louis up 15-1 in the sixth.
Interim manager Mike Shildt pulled Carpenter from the game in the bottom half of the inning.
Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds the bases after hitting a three run home run as Addison Russell of the Chicago Cubs looks on during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field on July 20, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois