Pirates Beat Cardinals 7-5 For Seventh Straight Win

The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5 at Busch Stadium on Wednesday night to earn their seventh consecutive victory and jump to second place in the NL Central.

Pirates Beat Cardinals 7-5 For Seventh Straight Win

The loss was particularly rough for the Cardinals not only because they wasted a four-run lead, but also because they lost All-Star second baseman Matt Carpenter to a right oblique injury. Carpenter, the Cardinals’ best offensive player over the first half, left in the third inning. The Cardinals sent Carpenter away for further tests, the results of which had not returned by the end of the game. The club expects to learn overnight the severity of the injury.

“The test is that we’re just not playing the kind of baseball we want to play,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “That’s it. We’re going to have guys go down. You never want to see it happen. You want to get them back as quick as you can. But when it happens, somebody else has to step up. Right now, we’re just fighting to get a good feel.”

St. Louis has now dropped three straight games– the first three of their four-game home series against the Pirates.

Former Cardinals third baseman David Freese led off scoring for Pittsburgh with a solo home run off starter Jaime Garcia’s first pitch that went over the left-center-field fence to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. It was Freese’s ninth homer of the season. Recognized with a standing ovation in each of his first four games at his former home ballpark, a response the former Cardinal humbly called “almost embarrassing,” Freese received no such welcome when he stepped to the plate in the first inning.

St. Louis, led by Aledmys Diaz’s 3-for-5, two-RBI night, build a lead against Pirates starter Jeff Locke, who allowed four runs as the Cardinals hit around in the fourth. Most of those runs came from players subbing for injured teammates. . Fill-in first baseman Jedd Gyorko drove in one, as did Carpenter’s replacement, Kolten Wong. Greg Garcia, starting in place of an injured Jhonny Peralta, singled and scored.

“They’re a great team. We’re a great team, too,” Locke said. “That’s why you see them neck and neck with us.”

However, Pittsburgh fought back against an unsettled Cardinals bullpen to improve to 8-4 against St. Louis this season. Holding a 5-1 lead, Garcia walked the first two batters he faced in the sixth. The left-hander was forced out after that. Josh Harrison and Sean Rodriguez followed with RBI singles off right-handed reliever Matt Bowman. Third baseman Jung Ho Kang’s two-run double to right field off reliever Jonathan Broxton in the seventh gave the Pirates a 6-5 lead and eventually sealed the comeback win. Rodriguez also drilled a solo homer to left-center field off Garcia in the fifth to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 5-2, and made a spectacular diving catch on Matt Holliday’s line drive to right field in the first.

“To come back and win a ballgame here, down 5-1, that doesn’t happen very often,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “Everybody’s throwing something in.”

Kang, a 29-year-old South Korean, is currently being investigated following a sexual assault claim.

“We always think positive and keep our heads up,” Kang said through interpreter H.K. Kim. “That’s what we did today and the past couple days.”

The Pirates (44-41) have won 10 of their last 12 to cut 5 1/2 games off the Cubs’ divisional lead. The Cardinals (43-41) on the other hand, are now third in the NL Central and have lost 10 straight home games to teams with records above .500.

“It’s been a rough stretch all season for us,” said Wong. “We’ve had our ups and downs. It just hasn’t been consistent for us. You just have to learn how to flush it down and basically understand that we have another half season left.”

The two teams will next face off for their four-game series finale at Busch Stadium on Thursday afternoon. Right-hander Tyler Glasnow, 22, the Pirates’ top prospect, will make his Major League debut. Glasnow was 7-2 with a 1.78 ERA, 113 strikeouts and 52 walks in 96 innings for Triple-A Indianapolis. Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright will make his 26th career start against Pittsburgh, against whom he is 11-7 with a 4.30 career ERA. With a victory, he would move into sole possession of seventh place on the franchise’s all-time wins list.

PHOTO: ST. LOUIS, MO – JULY 6: Josh Harrison #5 of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits an RBI single against the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth inning at Busch Stadium on July 6, 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)