PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Jack Flaherty cruised through six innings, Matt Carpenter hit
another homer and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 2-1 victory over the
Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
Completing six innings for the first time since July 3, Flaherty (5-6) allowed
three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Carpenter hit a solo home run in the fifth and Jedd Gyorko singled to drive in
a run later that inning to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.
St. Louis took the final two games of the three-game series against Pittsburgh
to move past the Pirates into third alone in the National League Central.
Bud Norris retired the side in order with two strikeouts in the ninth for his
21st save.
Flaherty recovered after giving up four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings of a
6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies in his last start.
He got out of trouble twice on Sunday, first when the Pirates had runners on
second and third with one out. Corey Dickerson struck out and Starling Marte
grounded out to end the third inning. With runners on first and third two
innings later, Flaherty forced Jordan Luplow into an inning-ending double play.
Carpenter’s home run, his career-high 29th of the season, to right with one out
in the fifth ended Trevor Williams’ streak of 211/2 innings without allowing a
run. That stretched back to July 6, when Williams (9-8) gave up three runs in
the third inning of a 17-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
After the homer, Williams surrendered consecutive singles to Yadier Molina and
Jose Martinez before Gyorko scored Molina with a single to left. Williams
allowed those two runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in five innings.
Adam Frazier hit a home run off reliever Chasen Shreve to make it 2-1 in the
seventh.
ROSTER MOVES
Cardinals: RHP Tyson Ross was claimed off waivers from the San Diego Padres,
and will join St. Louis in Miami. He was 6-9 with a 4.45 ERA and 107 strikeouts
in 22 starts for the Padres this season.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: RHP Luke Weaver (6-9, 4.75) will attempt to keep his string of
impressive performances going when he faces the Miami Marlins on Monday. He has
surrendered three runs or fewer in five straight starts since giving up eight in
an 11-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves on June 30. Wei-Yin Chen (3-8) starts for
the Marlins.
Game time is 6:10 with the pre-game at 5:15 on KTLO-AM.
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