Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals Match Player Stats On Jun 25, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 25, 2017

ST. LOUIS -- Yadier Molina wasn't in the original lineup Sunday night.

However, the veteran St. Louis Cardinals catcher wound up in the one submitted to the umpires. And he delivered the key hit in the rally that enabled St. Louis to avoid a series sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Molina's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh snapped a tie and helped the Cardinals register an 8-4 win.

St. Louis (34-40) halted a three-game losing streak, banging out 11 hits and taking advantage of two walks, a hit batter and an error in a four-run seventh that saw the Cardinals manage only two hits.

The other hit was a two-run single through a drawn-in infield by Paul DeJong, plating Molina and Aledmys Diaz to cap the inning. Diaz knocked in the inning's second run with a grounder that shortstop Jordy Mercer booted for an error.

The Cardinals trailed 4-2 in the sixth when Randal Grichuk blasted a 478-foot solo homer into the third deck in left field, the second-longest homer in Busch Stadium III history. Pinch hitter Jedd Gyorko tied the game with a two-out, RBI ground-rule double to right-center.

Trevor Rosenthal (2-3) fanned Josh Harrison for the seventh inning's final out and picked up the win. Juan Nicasio (1-4) was charged with all four St. Louis runs in the seventh and ate the loss.

Neither starter was involved in the decision.

Pittsburgh's Chad Kuhl allowed eight hits and four runs in five-plus innings, walking one and fanning six.

Cardinals right-hander Mike Leake lasted six innings. He permitted six hits and four runs, three of them earned, with two walks and two strikeouts.

St. Louis started the scoring in the bottom of the second. Three straight singles loaded the bases with no outs. One out later, Greg Garcia lined a two-run single to left-center, his second hit in 30 June at-bats.

But Pittsburgh erased the lead quickly with three runs in the third. Adam Frazier pulled an 0-2 pitch left over the middle of the plate into the right-center field gap for a two-run triple, then scored on Harrison's sacrifice fly to center.

The Pirates made it 4-2 in the fourth as Elias Diaz lofted a sacrifice fly to center that scored Andrew McCutchen. Elias Diaz singled and moved to third on Mercer's infield hit that was teamed with a throwing error by shortstop Aledmys Diaz.

NOTES: St. Louis CF Dexter Fowler (right heel spur) and LHP Kevin Siegrist (cervical spine strain) each landed on the 10-day disabled Sunday. 1B Luke Voit and RHP Mike Mayers were called up from Triple-A Memphis. ... The Cardinals also recalled OF Randal Grichuk from Memphis and optioned OF Chad Huffman to Memphis. Grichuk was inserted into the lineup, batting fourth and playing left field, and he went 2-for-5 with a homer. ... Pittsburgh 2B Josh Harrison was hit by a pitch Saturday, the major-league-leading 16th time he took first base with a bruise for his trouble. He has been hit five times in the last seven games.