PITTSBURGH (AP) _ Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Jhonny Peralta all homered
off closer Tony Watson with two outs in the ninth inning, helping the St. Louis
Cardinals rally past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7 on Tuesday night.
The Cardinals were down to their last strike when Carpenter sent a long drive
to right-center to tie it 6-6. Grichuk followed two batters later with a two-run
shot off Watson (2-4), and Peralta piled on with a solo homer as St. Louis held
on to the second wild card in the NL.
Carpenter’s homer was the 15th by a St. Louis pinch-hitter this season, a major
league record. Yadier Molina went 4 for 5, including a first-inning grand slam.
Mike Mayers (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth for the win, and Seung-Hwan Oh
worked around a solo homer to Jung Ho Kang in the ninth for his 16th save.
The series wraps up Wednesday night in Pittsburgh with the Cardinals looking for
a sweep. Mike Leake (9-9) returns to the rotation Wednesday for the Cardinals
after a stay on the disabled list while battling a case of the shingles. Jameson
Taillon (3-4) starts for the Pirates. Game time is 6:05 with the pre-game at
5:10 on KTLO-AM.
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