Cardinals down Pirates in extra innings again
By Larry Snyder
The St. Louis Cardinals won their second extra-inning game in three days when they defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 in 12 innings on Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium.
Matt Carpenter was the star as he had four hits on the afternoon and scored the winning run on Matt Holliday’s single in the bottom of the 12th. The victory allowed the Cards to take two of three in the series.
Aug 15, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday (7) hits the game winning run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the twelfth inning at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Pirates 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports
The loss dropped the Bucs’ record to 71-49 and tightened the race in the National League Central. With only a two-game lead over the second-place Cardinals – and a three-game lead over the third-place Cincinnati Reds – Pittsburgh has dropped five of six, all on the road.
St. Louis starter Lance Lynn went 5 1/3 innings, giving up four earned runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking one on 99 pitches. Sam Freeman, Seth Maness, Randy Choate, Trevor Rosenthal, Edward Mujica answered the call to the bullpen for the Cards through the 11th, then rookie Kevin Siegrist picked up his first win of the season when he struck out two on 18 pitches in a perfect 12th.
Clint Hurdle’s crew hit for the cycle to get on the scoreboard first in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs. Rookie Andrew Lambo got his first MLB hit when he doubled to center field and scored Garrett Jones with nobody out. Clint Barmes then followed with a two-run home run to left field, his third of the season. Closing out the scoring barrage, Neil Walker popped a sacrifice fly to center field to score Starling Marte, who had tripled.
The Cardinals’ offense came roaring back in the bottom of the fifth against Pirates starter A.J. Burnett. Daniel Descalso singled to center field to score Matt Adams and David Freese with no outs, then Matt Carpenter tripled to right field to make it 4-3. One batter later, Jon Jay singled to right field scoring Carpenter and Matt Holliday put the Cards ahead with a double to left field that chased Burnett.
In the top of the eighth, Russell Martin tied it up for the Pirates with a lead off home run to right field. It was Martin’s 11th homer of the season.
Burnett went 4 1/3 innings, giving up five earned runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking one on 76 pitches. Vin Mazzaro, Justin Wilson and Tony Watson (career-high three innings) answered the call to arms out of the bullpen, but it was righthander Bryan Morris who gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 12th and saw his record drop to 5-6.
The Bucs return to PNC Park for a three-game series with Arizona, starting at 7:05 p.m. on Friday. The Diamondbacks (62-57) will send righthander Brandon McCarthy (2-6, 4.73 ERA) to the mound while the Pirates will go with righthander Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.95 ERA).
The 22-year-old will be making his 12th start of the season on Friday; he had a no decision in his last start on Aug. 8 against Miami. The game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.
From The Clipboard: The Pirates have won five straight and nine of their last 11 games at home…Marte’s triple to center in the fifth allowed him to become the Bucs’ first 10-10-10 (doubles, triples, homers) player since Jack Wilson in 2004…Pedro Alvarez is one home run shy of becoming the only third baseman in Pirates history to have two 30-home run seasons.
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