Pirates 5 - 3 Cardinals
Final
  for this game

Pirates use late rally to sink Cards

Apr 28, 2013 - 1:26 AM

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St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Russell Martin hit a two-run homer as part of a four-run seventh inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied to steal a 5-3 victory from the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday in the middle test of a three-game set at a rainy Busch Stadium.

Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones drove in the other two runs in the seventh for the Pirates, who have won four of five.

A.J. Burnett (2-2) gave up two runs on five hits and struck out six over six frames and still picked up the win despite walking three batters.

"We thought we'd get seven or eight innings out of him and we got six," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He didn't give in and continued to fight and left the game where we were in a position to still compete."

Carlos Beltran had two hits, including an RBI double , while Pete Kozma also drove in a run for the Cardinals, who had a four-game winning streak come to an end.

Starter Jake Westbrook didn't yield a run over six innings and struck out six, but is still searching for his 100th career win. Reliever Joe Kelly (0-1) was tagged for four runs on three hits and a blown save in one-third of an inning in the setback.

"It stinks for Jake. He pitched his butt off," Kelly said. "That's the most frustrating part."

Trailing 2-0 through the first six frames, Pittsburgh took control in the seventh. Kelly relieved Westbrook and allowed a lead-off single before giving up Martin's crucial opposite field two-run shot to right to make it 2-2. As the rain and sloppy conditions continued to effect both teams, Pittsburgh took advantage with two more runs.

Later in the inning, Trevor Rosenthal replaced Kelly with runners on first and second and one out. The runners, Clint Barmes and Starling Marte, moved to second and third on a wild pitch and then Rosenthal plunked Jose Tabata to load the bases. McCutchen followed with a walk to score one run and Jones grounded out to second bringing in another to give the Bucs a 4-2 lead.

Gaby Sanchez added a sacrifice fly to center in the eighth scoring Martin to add some extra insurance.

Matt Carpenter and Beltran opened up the bottom half of the first with consecutive singles, with Carpenter moving to third on Beltran's poke to right. Matt Holliday then made it 1-0 with a ground out to short that turned into a 6-4-3 double play.

St. Louis struck again in the sixth. Jon Jay doubled to right with one down and Kozma smacked a single up the middle to make it 2-0.

St. Louis never truly responded after the seventh. Jason Grilli worked around Beltran's ninth-inning RBI double to earn his 10th save in 10 tries this season.

Game Notes

Westbrook is 1-7 in 10 career starts versus Pittsburgh ... Pittsburgh's Martin has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games ... Burnett's 48 strikeouts this season leads the National League ... The Pirates left 10 men on base, while St. Louis went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.






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