Pirates dropped by Cardinals for fourth-straight loss
Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 Saturday night to gain ground in the NL Central.
St. Louis pulled within three games of division-leading Chicago with its sixth victory in seven games. Tyler Lyons (4-0) pitched a scoreless inning for the win, and Juan Nicasio got three outs for his second save since he was acquired in a trade with Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Carpenter’s 19th homer tied it at 3 in the seventh. Paul DeJong hit a leadoff double in the eighth and advanced on a groundout before coming home on Randal Grichuk’s bouncer to third, making it 4-3 St. Louis.
Cardinals center fielder Dexter Fowler has bruised his left knee against Pittsburgh when he crashed into the wall trying to catch a long drive by Adam Frazier that turned into an inside-the-park home run.
Frazier’s shot off John Brebbia in the seventh inning Saturday night hit just a foot from the top of the wall. After banging into the fence, Fowler crumpled to the ground and stayed down as Frazier circled the bases. The solo home run gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead.
Fowler was replaced in center by Randal Grichuk.
It was the first inside-the-park homer for the Pirates since Andrew McCutchen hit one on Sept. 10, 2014.
The previous player to have an inside-the-park shot at Busch Stadium was Edwin Encarnacion for the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 31, 2007.