Cardinals blank Phillies behind home run trio

May 7 (UPI) -- Matt Carpenter, Yadier Molina and Paul Dejong each hit home runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals shut out the Philadelphia Phillies.

The long balls carried the Cardinals to the 6-0 win on Monday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was also dominant, allowing just three hits and tossing five strikeouts in seven shutout innings.

"Overall, as a team, we have a good approach," Molina told reporters. "We execute pretty good. And that's what we need to do every day."

St. Louis and Philadelphia were scoreless through three innings before the Cardinals' bats came alive. Marcell Ozuna lined out to leadoff the bottom of the fourth frame, before Jose Martinez got onboard with a walk. Molina then stepped into the box to face Phillies starter Vince Velasquez.

The right-handed pitcher worked an even count against the veteran catcher before tossing in a 95.5 mph fastball on the seventh offering of the exchange. Molina mashed the pitch over the left center field fence for a 402-foot two-run homer. Molina's blast had an exit velocity of 100 mph and a launch angle of 26 degrees, according to Statcast.

Mikolas got the Phillies out in order in the top of the next inning, before he got some insurance from the Cardinals' lumber.

Carpenter led off the bottom of the fifth inning. He worked a 3-1 count against Velasquez, before sending his fifth offering out of the ball park for a 402-foot solo shot. Paul Goldschmidt singled in the next at-bat.

Then DeJong stepped in to face Velasquez. The Cardinals shortstop took a ball before going down 1-2 in the count. He fouled off the next two pitches before eyeing Velasquez's sixth offering of the exchange. DeJong drilled the 1-2 fastball over the center field fence for a 419-foot two-run shot, giving the Cardinals a 5-0 edge.

Kolten Wong plated the game's final run with a sacrifice fly four at-bats later, giving St. Louis a 6-0 advantage.

Molina was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored in the win. DeJong was 1-for-3 with two RBIs, a run scored and a walk for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals host the Phillies in the second game of the three-game series at 7:45 p.m. Tuesday in St. Louis.