PITTSBURGH (AP) — Harrison Bader’s pinch-hit bloop single off Pittsburgh closer Felipe Vazquez keyed a late rally and helped the St. Louis Cardinals surge past the slumping Pirates 6-4 on Sunday.
The Cardinals won for just the fourth time in 19 games when trailing after seven innings by pouncing on Pittsburgh’s bullpen. St. Louis loaded the bases off Michael Feliz (0-2) and the Pirates brought in Vazquez with one out in the eighth. Bader fought off a 99 mph fastball from Vazquez and dumped it into shallow right field to tie the game. Vazquez walked Yairo Munoz on four pitches to hand St. Louis the lead and the Cardinals added another on a fielder’s choice RBI by Carson Kelly. Vazquez has blown three straight save opportunities for the Pirates, who have dropped seven of nine.Sam Tuivailala (1-0) picked up the win with a scoreless seventh. Bud Norris worked a perfect ninth for his 11th save. Matt Carpenter went 2 for 4 for St. Louis and is hitting .422 (19 of 45) since May 16. Jedd Gyorko got the Cardinals within one with a pinch-hit, two-run single off Edgar Santana in the seventh.
UP NEXT
Cardinals: Head to Milwaukee to take on the first-place Brewers on Monday. Luke Weaver (3-4, 4.31 ERA) starts in the opener. Pre-game 12:15, 1st pitch 1:10 on KJAN.
Pirates: Host the Chicago Cubs for three games starting Monday. Chad Kuhl (4-2, 4.20 ERA) starts the opener. Kuhl is 1-4 with an 8.23 ERA in seven career starts against the Cubs.