Carpenter homers as Cards outlast Pirates
PITTSBURGH — Matt Carpenter homered in the second inning to send the St. Louis Cardinals on to an 11-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
With the Cardinals leading 2-1 and two outs in the second inning, Carpenter homered over the center field wall to extend the lead to 5-1. It was the second of three St. Louis home runs in the first three innings.
The Cardinals, whose lead reached 11-3 in the eighth inning, have taken the first two games of a four-game series against the Pirates to remain 1½ games behind the National League Central-leading Chicago Cubs.
St. Louis has won 10 of its past 13 games despite losing three straight from Aug. 13-16. It has scored at least eight runs in eight of those 10 wins.
Right-hander Carlos Martinez (10-9) allowed three runs and six hits with four strikeouts for the win. Right-hander Seung Hwan Oh picked up his 19th save.
The Cardinals survived a late Pirates push.
Max Moroff hit a two-run home run, Pittsburgh’s third of the game, 420 feet into the Allegheny River on a bounce beyond the right field wall to make it 11-5 in the eighth. Josh Bell hit an RBI double and Elias Diaz drove in two runs with a double to cut the deficit to 11-8 later in the inning.
Pittsburgh scored two more in the ninth, but left the bases loaded.
The Pirates’ losing reached six games.
They are 6½ games behind the Cubs.
Tommy Pham homered in the
St. Louis’ Matt Carpenter (13) celebrates with teammates after hitting a three-run homer against the Pirates in the second inning of Friday’s game. first inning to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead and Paul DeJong made it 6-2 with a solo shot in the third. St. Louis scored two runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-2 lead and chase Pirates starter Trevor Williams.
Williams (5-6) lasted three innings while allowing eight runs, three home runs and seven hits with three strikeouts.
Starling Marte hit an RBI triple to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 8-3 in the fifth inning. Keith Srakocic / The Associated Press