Cardinals rally past Pirates in the ninth for win

A flip to second base gone awry threatened to sap the St. Louis Cardinals of the momentum that has carried them from the doldrums of August to the middle of the playoff race in September.

No matter. A series of small moves executed perfectly allowed the Cardinals to rally against one of the best closers in the game.

Randal Grichuk scored after an error by Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer, capping a frantic ninthrally that lifted surging St. Louis over Pittsburgh 4-3 on Friday night. The wildcard chasing Cardinals won their fourth straight, despite trailing by a run entering the ninth against Felipe Rivero, who came in having blown just one save all season. Make it two. Stephen Piscotty led off with a double to right, and Jedd Gyorko followed with a pinch-hit RBI single. After Tommy Pham’s single, Grichuk pinch-ran for Gyorko at third, and he scored when Mercer misplayed Dexter Fowler’s sharp groundball. Pham was running on the pitch, meaning Mercer had no time to turn an inningending double play. When the ball skittered out of his grasp, any chance to fire home instead was gone, too.

St. Louis began a threegame set in Pittsburgh just 1 1/2 games behind Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the National League after taking three straight against Cincinnati, a resounding bounce back after getting swept last weekend by the Chicago Cubs.