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Cards turn to Wainwright in rubber match with Pirates

Apr 27, 2014 - 1:13 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Adam Wainwright tries to win his fourth consecutive start and stretch his scoreless streak when the St. Louis Cardinals play the Pittsburgh Pirates in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Wainwright is 9-5 with a 4.68 ERA in 23 games (19 starts) against the Pirates, and that includes a loss on April 6 at PNC Park. The righty beat the Mets on Tuesday after throwing seven shutout innings. That moved his shutout streak to 17 innings.

Edinson Volquez lost a 4-1 decision to Cincinnati on Tuesday when he yielded five hits and a pair of runs over seven innings. The righty is 3-5 with a 5.18 ERA in 11 career starts against the Cardinals, but he's 23-9 in 55 appearances (54 starts) versus NL Central teams.

Yesterday, Gaby Sanchez delivered a two-run double to highlight a breakout fourth inning for Pittsburgh, and the Pirates overcame an early exit from Francisco Liriano to produce a 6-1 victory and end a four-game skid.

Liriano tossed two-plus scoreless frames before being removed due to flu-like symptoms, but Stolmy Pimentel and Jared Hughes combined for four innings of one-run ball. Pittsburgh's struggling offense finally got on track in the fourth, scoring four times on four hits that also included RBI singles from Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata.

"I just felt dizzy, just weak and dizzy," Liriano said of leaving the game early.

Tony Sanchez added a two-run single later on for a Pirates team that had mustered just four runs total during the losing streak and had a mere four hits in dropping Friday's opener of this three-game set by a 1-0 count.

Pimentel (2-0) received the win after permitting one run over 2 2/3 innings in relief of Liriano.

St. Louis starter Tyler Lyons (0-2) retired nine straight hitters to begin the contest and concluded his six-inning stint with eight consecutive outs, but was hit hard during a six-batter stretch in the fourth that was the difference in the game.

"With the exception of that one inning, everything went pretty well," Lyons said, referring to his undoing in the fourth. "But the one inning, that's a killer."

Pittsburgh took two of three at home from the Cardinals earlier this month and went 10-9 in the series a year ago.