Carpenter's home run makes Cardinals history

ST. LOUIS -- Matt Carpenter hit his 22nd career leadoff home run against the Rockies in a 6-3 loss Tuesday night at Busch Stadium, surpassing former Cardinals great Lou Brock for most leadoff homers in franchise history. 
It was Carpenter's seventh leadoff homer of the season, another franchise record.
"A win would've made it even more special, but anytime your name is in the same sentence with guys like Lou Brock it's pretty humbling," Carpenter said. "Not really a lot of words to describe it, but it's pretty cool."
After the game, Carpenter traded a signed bat for his home run ball, which was caught by a 6-year-old girl celebrating a birthday with her friends and family.
The girl was speechless when face to face with the Cardinals' first baseman.
"It's fun. I get to meet a nice family, and they did a good thing giving me the ball and trading with me, so I appreciate that. Certainly it was a nice gesture," Carpenter said.
Carpenter's long ball off Jon Gray's 0-2 pitch traveled a Statcast-projected 369 feet. This was Carpenter's 26th home run of the season, which puts him just four shy of becoming the 15th Cardinals left-hander to hit 30 home runs in a season.
"Let's tip our cap to Matt Carpenter," interim manager Mike Shildt said. "He just passed a Hall of Famer. That's quite an accomplishment and speaks volumes for Matt and his talent and what he's been able to do."