Cardinals' manager Mike Matheny gave both starting catcher Yadier Molina and starting shortstop and leadoff man Rafael Furcal the day off--and in the big picture of things, it ultimately hurt the team as Saint Louis only totaled six hits on the night in the lost.
The Red Birds got on the board offensively in the third-inning as Jon Jay drove in Tony Cruz on a fielder's choice--and followed it up with an RBI single to left center from Matt Holliday that drove in Jay. Holliday finished the game 2-for-3 with his RBI--and Carlos Beltran finished the day at the plate just one-for-four but had an RBI double himself in the bottom of the eighth--which brought the team to within 6-to-3 heading to the ninth.
Lance Lynn, who leads the Cardinals in wins this season, finished the game recieving the loss as he went five innings and gave up six runs on seven hits--dropping his overall record to 10-4 on the season and bumped his earned-run average up to 3.62. He also struck out six batters but walked four batters as well.
The bullpen for the Cardinals combined to pitch four innings in relief, and gave up just one run (which was from Viktor Marte)--but walked no batters and struck out five on just one hit.
As for the Pirates, Karstans pitched seven innings on the day, improving his overall record to 1-2 on the season as he gave up just two runs on four hits. The Pirates' pen pitched two innings in relief, giving up just two hits and one run--and picking up his first save of the season was Jon Hughes.
The Pirates now have won four games in a row and will be looking for there first sweep of the Cardinals in quite some time. Tomorrow's game will deliver the first pitch at 1:15 pm Central Time and will feature a pitching matchup of the Cardinals' Jake Westbrook and the Pirates Erik Bedard.
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