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| Glaus lifts Cardinals over pesky Pirates ST. LOUIS 11, PITTSBURGH 6 |
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By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Troy Glaus made sure that the Pittsburgh Pirates' latest rally didn't end in another win. Glaus delivered a tying double in the seventh inning and also homered as the St. Louis Cardinals posted an 11-6 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday. Despite scoring 11 runs for the second straight day, St. Louis needed to win Sunday's finale to wrap up its first series victory since June 27-29 at Kansas City. "This weekend overall was a good weekend for us," Glaus said. "We put a lot of hits together and scored a lot of runs. We hit a lot of balls hard." The Pirates rallied from six runs down in the eighth inning on Saturday to pull out a 12-11 win. They also showed some resiliency by overcoming an early three-run deficit to take a 6-5 lead on a two-run double by Chris Gomez in the sixth. "They battled back and went ahead, but we came right back and scored some runs," said Ryan Ludwick, who went 2-for-5 with a homer. "You have to give a big real big tip of your hat to everyone on this team after the job we did today." Yet, Glaus and the Cardinals answered right back with a four-run seventh. The veteran third baseman forged a 6-6 tie with an RBI double and later homered in the ninth to cap the scoring, finishing with three hits. It was a third straight strong offensive effort for St. Louis, which was struggling with the bats prior to this weekend's series. However, the Pirates' pitching ended up being the perfect tonic for the Cardinals, who scored 28 times after mustering only nine runs in the previous five games Aaron Miles also homered for St. Louis, which scored at least once during six different innings and had 15 hits to give it an even 50 for the series. "I just think right now the guys are taking really good at bats, and if you do that, good things happen," La Russa said. Ludwick, who homered during each game in the series, had two hits and two runs and Chris Duncan went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBI. Xavier Nady had three hits and Jack Wilson, Ryan Doumit and Gomez two apiece for Pittsburgh, which has the worst ERA in the National League. Pirates starter Ian Snell was cruising through 3 2/3 innings, having retired 11 in a row at that point and striking out five of seven to hold a 1-0 lead courtesy a first-inning RBI single by Nady. But things began to unravel for Snell with two outs in the fourth, when five consecutive Cardinals reached base - the first four of which scored. Back-to-back doubles by Glaus and Duncan led to a run, and after Yadier Molina followed with a walk, Miles hit his second homer of the season to right field. After allowing four runs and five hits and three walks with six strikeouts, Snell was lifted for a pinch hitter in the fifth. "They hit good pitches," Snell said. "I didn't throw any bad pitches. If you make good pitches and they hit them, you have tip your hat to them. They're a good hitting team, and they came in really aggressive from the start." However, the Pirates got Snell off the hook, as Doumit cut the deficit to 4-2 with a two-out double in the fifth that drove in Freddy Sanchez, and Bay followed with a two-run single. The Cardinals re-gained the lead with an unearned run in the fifth. After Pirates second baseman Gomez let a double-play ball roll between his legs, Cesar Izturis grounded into a fielder's choice that allowed Molina to score to give St. Louis a 5-4 lead. But the lead changed hands again in the bottom of the inning with another two-out run-scoring hit, as the double by Gomez drove in pitcher Sean Burnett and Nate McLouth. When Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro walked the following batter, his afternoon was finished. He was charged with six runs and 10 hits and three walks with two strikeouts. "It got away from me, and as a starting pitcher, you can't let that happen," Pineiro said. "I'm just lucky the offense came in and did their job." But the streak of consecutive half-innings in which a lead was lost or changed hands continued in the seventh as St. Louis scored four times against Franquelis Osoria (3-3), and subsequently held the lead for good. Five of the first six batters of the inning reached, highlighted by the RBI double by Glaus, a run-scoring single by Duncan and a two-run triple by Miles, who finished with five RBI. Ludwick then connected on his 21st home run in the eighth, before Glaus led off the ninth with his 15th. That made it seven runs on 10 hits in four innings against Pirates relievers. "Our bullpen's been extremely overused, and guys are giving what they have," Pirates manager John Russell said. "But there's just not much left in the tank." Russ Springer (2-0) got Jason Bay to pop out to end the sixth to earn the victory. "It's good to go into the break with a bunch of guys swinging the bat well and feeling good," Miles said. "And to win a series, too, things are going well." |
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