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Pirates rout Cards

Jun 30, 2012 - 5:36 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Clint Barmes laced the go-ahead solo home run as part of a three-homer, four-run sixth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates thumped the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-5, in the opener of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

It was the first time that the Pirates have belted three home runs in one inning since July 22, 2009 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Garrett Jones and Alex Presley also homered in the frame and Andrew McCutchen blasted a three-run homer in the ninth among his four hits as the Pirates won for the third consecutive time. Pedro Alvarez ripped a three-run double and added an RBI on a bases-loaded walk in the victory.

Kevin Correia (4-6) allowed five runs on six hits over five innings with three strikeouts and two walks to notch the win. Brad Lincoln tossed three scoreless innings in relief and Chris Resop finished it out in the ninth.

Adam Wainwright (6-8) was rocked for seven runs on 11 hits in five innings with seven strikeouts and a walk to take the loss.

"I was able to keep cool between innings and I felt like I was refreshed when I went back out there each time," Wainwright said about dealing with the heat. "Tonight was just one of those horrible nights when I didn't make pitches when I needed to."

Allen Craig crushed a three-run homer and Carlos Beltran collected his 2,000th career hit with a game-tying RBI single in the second inning for the Cardinals, who have lost two straight following a five-game winning streak.

With the game tied, 5-5, the Pirates exploded for three long balls and four runs in the sixth to take a 9-5 lead. Barmes led off the frame with his fourth homer of the season and Presley followed by belting a pinch-hit rocket over the wall in right. Eduardo Sanchez entered the game and allowed a two-out single to McCutchen before Jones took him deep to right for the four-run margin.

The Pirates tacked on two more runs in the eighth on a Casey McGehee pinch-hit RBI base hit before Alvarez drew a walk from Cards reliever Sam Freeman, which plated Jose Tabata to make it 11-5.

McCutchen then took Marc Rzepczynski deep to left-center field with Presley and Tabata on base to cap the rout.

Earlier, Pittsburgh struck first with a pair of runs in its first at-bat. Tabata stroked a one-out single and McCutchen followed with a double before Neil Walker drove home both runners with a sharp single back up the middle to put the Bucs up 2-0.

After going down quietly in the first, St.Louis' bats woke up over its next two cracks at the plate as the defending champs pushed across five runs to take a 5-2 lead after three innings of play.

Craig ripped a leadoff double into the left-center field gap and scored on a groundout by David Freese two batters later in the second. In the third, Beltran ripped an RBI single to tie the game at two and Craig followed with a three-run shot over the wall in left-center field to put the Cardinals ahead.

The Pirates battled back to tie the game at five in the fifth with a two-out rally. After Tabata and Drew Sutton were set down, McCutchen got things started with an infield hit before a single off the bat of Jones and a walk to Walker loaded the bases. Alvarez then came up with the huge hit as he ripped a double down the line in right to bring everybody home.

"We knew it was just a matter of time before we got that big hit and got some runners on," said McCutchen. "Everybody's contributing, it's not just one guy."

Game Notes

Pittsburgh pounded out a season-high 19 hits, which is the team's highest total since July 18, 2010 against the Houston Astros...The temperature on the field at first pitch was 101 degrees which was the hottest game time temperature in St. Louis since August 2, 2006...Pittsburgh improved to 17-3 this season when hitting two-or-more home runs in a game...McCutchen's 15 home runs are the most by a Pirate before the All-Star break since Willie Stargel clubbed 21 in 1965.