Trevor Rosenthal took care of the ninth for his 35th save as the Cardinals (73-40) pushed Pittsburgh (65-46) seven games back in the division, beating it for the 18th time in their last 21 meetings at Busch Stadium.St. Louis broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the third with help from Pittsburgh’s infield defense.
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Louis Cardinals history, speed is not one of them.
Yet Alvarez seems to make the pitcher-friendly ballpark play more like a bandbox.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn watches the game…
It was Molina’s game from the start, besides the fact he was the first Cardinals catcher since Mickey Owen in 1939 to have a double, triple and stolen base in the same game.
Following one-run and two-run losses in the first two games of the series, the Pirates came out aggressive from the first pitch on Thursday. After Francisco Cervelli was hit by a pitch, the Cardinals had a mound discussion.
Liriano and Gregory Polanco added RBI singles that finished Lynn, and Walker capped it by singling home a run.
Limited to a total of six runs during their skid, the Yankees shook loose as McCann homered in the first inning.
Latos (4-9) gave up five runs and seven hits in 4-2/3 innings. The club considers Adams to be ahead of schedule on his rehabilitation of an injury suffered May 26 against Arizona and might send him on a rehab assignment before minor league seasons end September 7, meaning he could be available to the Cardinals by mid-September.
“We didn’t play our best ball the first two days”, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “It was a big effort for him”. Yadier Molina tied the game with a sacrifice fly and rookie Stephen Piscotty singled in the go-ahead run on consecutive at-bats in the fifth inning. But reliever Tony Watson fanned Wong, then worked a clean eighth to calm things down.
Joakim Soria relieved Liriano [8-6] in the seventh inning and encountered trouble. Martinez completely shut the Pirates offense down in early July when he went 7 and a third while allowing just 4 hits and no runs in what was a 4-1 victory.
Brandon Phillips went two for five, drove in three runs and scored a run on a night when Joey Votto went one for four and drew his major league-leading 32nd walk for the Reds. Walker doubled, his 25th of the season, and scored pinch-runner Starling Marte.
Marte has appeared in 103 games for the Pirates this season, batting.
Pirates are set to play the red-hot Mets in New York.
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For much of the season, stories on Carlos Martinez have focused on his incredible execution and diabolical sequencing as he continues to grow. Happ is 3-2 with a 4.74 ERA in nine career appearances [seven starts] against the Mets. The Cardinals could have opened up an eight-game lead in the National League Central with a sweep of the Pirates. The Giants began their 2014 title run by first winning a wild card game over the Pirates behind Madison Bumgarner. Pedro Alvarez has 16 errors this season and a career-worst -1.7 WAR.
