The St. Louis Cardinals were unable to make it a sweep.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates look to gain the upper hand against the visiting St. Louis Cardinals as the National League Central rivals’ four-game series continues at PNC Park on Saturday.
“I felt like my command was there for the most part,” Cole said. It also could be said that Cardinals starter Lance Lynn hurt himself by pitching behind in the count all night long.
Martinez earned his 10th win of the season on Thursday night, giving him a record of 10-3 with a 2.52 ERA. He is the fifth Pirate to win 12 games prior to the All-Star break, along with Dock Ellis, ElRoy Face, Ken Brett and Rip Sewell. The 38-year-old right-hander has surrendered only one homer and issued 13 walks over 56 1-3 innings in Pittsburgh.
Second baseman Neil Walker had three hits, including a two-run homer in the fourth, his seventh of the season that extended the Pirates’ lead to 5-2.
If the Pirates can sweep the last two games of the series, they will move to just 2.5 games behind the Cardinals at the All-Star break. Mercer was credited with an infield single when the batted ball hit a runner, N.Walker out, Kang to second.
Texas’ Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre hit back-to-back home runs to help the Rangers edge San Diego 4-3, ending a five-game skid. The 24-year-old All-Star is 7-1 in his last nine outings and has given up two runs or fewer in nine of his last 11 turns. “You can’t do that against any team, especially a good team like the Pirates because they’re a great fastball-hitting team”.
After missing out on an All-Star nomination earlier in the day, Dozier had two hits and four RBIs, and hit his second game-winning homer of the week. The Cardinals have a league-best 2.65 staff ERA and the Pirates are in second with a pitching staff ERA of 2.86.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book GT Bets, Francisco Cervelli and the Pirates are -131 money line favorites over the Cardinals, who are +111 money line underdogs for tonight’s game. The Red birds also lost first baseman Matt Adams on May 27 due to a quad tear that will keep him out three-to-four months. Cervelli is hitting. 292 with four home runs and 29 RBI’s in 2015. They proved that in the voting and again with the second voting. “It’s an exciting time to be a Royal”.
While all of the players involved were well-deserving, and an argument could be made that leaving Clayton Kershaw off the roster is indefensible, and many expected Johnny Cueto to pitch in front of his (for now) home fans, it’s tough to find much argument with these picks.
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Royals manager Ned Yost, who will handle the AL managerial duties, said he chose Moustakas for the final vote to reward him for revamping his swing. “Absolutely. But I do think that if you get in with this club right here, you got a chance to be pretty special”. “We really tried to put it in a very small area once we felt that he wasn’t on top of his game. We’re seeing some guys get some opportunities due to their fan support”.
