712 Digital Group - top

Liriano dominates, Pirates beat Cardinals 5-1

Sports

August 15th, 2013 by Ric Hanson

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Francisco Liriano was dominant coming off the worst outing of his career and the Pittsburgh Pirates got home runs from Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones in a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night. The win snapped a season-worst four-game losing streak and gave Pittsburgh a three-game lead in the NL Central.

The Pirates had a five-run cushion after four innings against rookie Shelby Miller (11-8), who didn’t miss a turn five days after getting drilled on the elbow and lasting just two pitches against the Dodgers.

Liriano (13-5) allowed four hits with six strikeouts and needed just 94 pitches to beat the Cardinals for the second time this year. He is 3-0 in his career against St. Louis. His last time out, the lefty was punished for 10 runs in 2 1-3 innings at Colorado.

***************

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina expects to be in the lineup today (Thursday), the first day he’s eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list from a right knee strain. He wants to play every day again, too. Molina worked out on the field for the third straight day before Wednesday’s game against the Pirates and said everything felt good. He said now is no time to rest. The Cardinals had been 6-7 without their perennial All-Star and trailed Pittsburgh by two games.

Molina was second in the National League with a .330 average, along with eight homers and 54 RBIs. Backup Tony Cruz was batting .219 with a homer and 11 RBIs. Matt Holliday was in the lineup after rolling his right ankle injury retreating to first base from a lead. Manager Mike Matheny said Holliday was “scared more than anything else.”