Pirates Drop Sixth Straight, Lose 6-2 To Cardinals
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Paul Goldschmidt hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and Marcell Ozuna followed with a two-run homer, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-2 on Friday night.
Goldschmidt's single went under the glove of Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman, scoring Dexter Fowler to break a 2-all tie. Five pitches later, Ozuna drove a 99 mph fastball from Richard Rodriguez (3-5) into the left field bullpen for his second homer in two games. The Cardinals tacked on an extra run when Paul DeJong reached on an error by José Osuna and scored on Matt Carpenter's sacrifice fly.
The rally made a winner out of Carlos Martínez (3-2), who pitched the final 1 1/3 innings as the Cardinals snapped a five-game losing streak.
Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson threw a season-low 49 pitches through four innings. He gave up two runs on six hits and didn't walk or strike out anyone.
Tyler Webb, John Brebbia and Andrew Miller pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to bridge the game to Martínez.
The Pirates lost their sixth straight and are 4-22 since the All-Star break.
Josh Bell doubled and scored on sacrifice flies by Osuna in the second and Colin Moran in the fourth for the Pirates' two runs.
The first three Cardinals batters of the game singled to load the bases, but Pirates starter Chris Archer escaped the jam with only one run allowed by getting Ozuna to ground into a double play and striking out DeJong.
St. Louis tied the game at 2 in the fourth when Matt Wieters legged out an infield hit to score Carpenter.
Archer gave up two runs on seven hits in six innings. His nine strikeouts were one shy of his season best.
RETURN ENGAGEMENT
The Pirates plan to promote RHP Mitch Keller from Triple-A Indianapolis to start Monday night's game at the Los Angeles Angels. Keller is 0-1 with a 12.50 ERA in three starts this season.
TRAINING ROOM
Pirates: RHP Clay Holmes (right triceps inflammation) threw two scoreless innings with Double-A Altoona on Thursday night.
Cardinals: C Yadier Molina (right thumb tendon strain) went 0 for 4 and caught all nine innings as he continued his rehabilitation assignment at Double-A Springfield. Manager Mike Shildt said Molina could join the team next week.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (8-10, 4.69) gets the start in the second of a three-game series at St. Louis on Saturday night. He is 1-5 with a 7.39 ERA in six career starts against the Cardinals.
Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (7-8, 4.50) will look to continue his strong season at home, where he is 5-2 with a 2.26 ERA in 10 starts. His 34 career starts and 182 strikeouts against Pittsburgh are the most among active pitchers.
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