Sports Network | September 27, 2010
St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Matt Pagnozzi scored the go-ahead run on Ronny Cedeno's throwing error in the seventh inning, helping the St. Louis Cardinals keep their slim postseason hopes alive in a 6-4 win over Pittsburgh.
Matt Holliday went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI for the Cardinals, who have won four of five but still trail to NL Central-leading Reds by six games with six to play.
Both starters, St. Louis' Kyle Lohse and Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton, gave up 10 hits and four runs over six innings.
Pedro Alvarez went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI and fell a triple short of the cycle for the Pirates, who came into this three-game set fresh off a 7-2 homestand.
Dennys Reyes (3-1) induced a double-play ball off the bat of pinch-hitter Andy LaRoche to get out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh, keeping the score tied, 4-4.
Pagnozzi singled off Sean Gallagher (2-1) to start the bottom half and moved to second on Jon Jay's pinch-hit sacrifice bunt. After Skip Schumaker struck out, Allen Craig hit a grounder to short that Cedeno fielded and threw wildly to first, allowing Pagnozzi to score.
The Cardinals got an insurance run in the eighth when Brendan Ryan raced home on Chan Ho Park's wild pitch, though the offering appeared to hit Jay on the shin.
Nevertheless, the run stood and Kyle McClellan worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to record his second save of the season.
The rookie Alvarez started the scoring on a leadoff homer in the second frame.
In the third, the Cardinals recorded four consecutive two-out hits, as Schumaker and Craig came in to score on singles from Albert Pujols and Holliday, respectively.
Cedeno singled home Alvarez in the fourth, and the Pirates plated two more in the fifth on run-scoring hits from Neil Walker and Alvarez.
Pujols singled to lead off the sixth and trotted home on Holliday's game-tying homer, his 28th of the year.
Pittsburgh is 15-60 as the guest this year, threatening the 1963 Mets' record for worst road mark (17-64) in a 162-game season...Morton earned a victory over St. Louis his previous time out but has yet to win consecutive decisions in his three-year career...Pujols has a NL-leading 117 RBI this year.