Pirates Lose 2-1 Again, Swept By Cardinals
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dexter Fowler hit his first two home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals, who swept the Pirates on Wednesday with their third straight 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh.
Fowler had three of the Cardinals' eight hits, including a third-inning drive into the right-field bullpen and a shot down the right-field line in the fifth, both off Gerrit Cole (1-2).
Josh Bell had tied the score with a fourth-inning homer to center against Michael Wacha (2-1), who had retired his first 10 batters.
St. Louis is 6-9, winning its opener and losing nine of 11 before the sweep.
Wacha allowed one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings. Matt Bowman relieved with two on and struck out Jordy Mercer to end the seventh, and Kevin Siegrist worked around a walk and two errors in the eighth. Pittsburgh left the bases loaded when Matt Carpenter, who committed the first error, made a diving stop at first base and raced to beat Gregory Polanco to first.
With closer Seung Hwan Oh unavailable after pitching the two previous games, former closer Trevor Rosenthal pitched the ninth. John Jaso singled with one out, Rosenthal threw a called third strike past Mercer, then struck out Jose Osuna for his first save this season.
Cole gave up six hits in six innings, struck out eight and walked none.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: Carpenter returned to the lineup after missing two games because of an injured ring finger on his right (throwing) hand.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Tyler Glasnow (0-1, 12.15) is to make the first interleague start of his career Friday, the opener of a three-game series against the visiting New York Yankees.
Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (0-2, 3.57) will open a four-game series at Milwaukee on Thursday. He is 4-1 with 1.36 ERA in eight starts and 11 relief appearances against the Brewers.
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