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Snell dominates as Pirates sink Cardinals

Aug 20, 2008 - 4:17 AM By Thad Kemlage PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Ian Snell threw a gem and the Pittsburgh Pirates took advantage of some shoddy defense in a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

Snell (5-10) allowed four hits over seven innings. He also struck out eight en route to his first win since July 28. Snell was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA against St. Louis in four previous starts.

"It feels good to have my velocity back," Snell said. "I challenged all their hitters tonight and I think I threw more fastballs than I've thrown all year."

"I think that's the best game he's thrown all year," Pirates manager John Russell said. "He's been building toward this and hopefully he can maintain some of it."

Ryan Doumit had a three-hit night, including a double off Cardinals starter Braden Looper (11-10) in the first inning to score Jack Wilson for a 1-0 lead.

Snell made it stand up, and the Pirates took advantage of two errors to score three runs in the ninth for a 4-0 cushion.

Doumit and LaRoche began the ninth with singles. After a sacrifice, Doumit scored when catcher Yadier Molina failed to field a slow ground ball by Andy LaRoche.

Rookie Steve Pearce drew a bases-loaded walk and Luis Rivas lifted a fly ball to Joe Mather, whose throwing error allowed Jason Michaels to score.

Those runs proved to be crucial. Adam Kennedy had an RBI double in the ninth and the Cardinals loaded the bases, but John Grabow struck out Brian Barton to end it.

"Every time we play these guys, it's not an easy win," Russell said. "The ninth inning has always been an adventure when we play these guys."

Looper was the tough-luck loser. The righthander allowed a run on three hits and retired 12 consecutive batters at one point. He is 2-3 in his last six starts but has a 2.03 ERA over that span, receiving one run of support.

"I came out in the first and definitely was not very sharp and unfortunately it cost us the game in the first inning," Looper said. "I've felt good recently but it just seems that it's not been quite good enough."

Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols came into the game with a .444 batting average against Snell - including four home runs - but had one hit in four at-bats.