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Moss leads Pirates over Cardinals

Sep 14, 2008 - 4:20 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Brandon Moss allowed the Pittsburgh Pirates to start a winning streak, no matter how long it took on Saturday.

Moss' game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the 12th inning gave the Pirates a 7-6 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Entering the weekend series, the Pirates had lost six in a row and 17 of 20, including six in a row at home. They have won consecutive games twice since August 9.

"I was just trying to hit something hard," said Moss, who entered the at-bat on a 3-for-34 skid. "I wasn't really worried about striking out in that situation. I was just trying to hit something hard out into the gap."

Adam LaRoche worked a two-out walk in the 12th and Moss followed with his decisive hit against Cardinals reliever Chris Perez (3-3).

"It was just a fun win," said Pittsburgh outfielder Nyjer Morgan, who went 3-for-6 and scored two runs. "It's fun when everybody comes together and works hard and you get a win."

It was the fourth loss in a row for St. Louis, which remained five games behind the Milwaukee Brewers (83-65) in the National League wild-card race.

Craig Hansen (1-3) worked around a hit and a walk in the top of the inning to record the victory. That was the final of eight consecutive scoreless innings for the Pirates bullpen. The Cardinals' relievers had pitched 7 2/3 without being scored upon until LaRoche crossed the plate.

"Everybody in our bullpen threw the ball well and gave us a chance," Pirates manager John Russell said. "In an extra-inning game at home, that's what you need. They all did a good job against a pretty good lineup."

Trailing 6-2, the Pirates had tied the score with a four-run fifth. Nate McLouth belted a run-scoring double, Ryan Doumit followed with a two-run double and LaRoche hit an RBI single to cap the rally against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, who previously had retired 12 of 15 batters.

Wainwright was charged with six runs and nine hits in four-plus innings. In four prior starts since coming off the disabled list August 22, the righthander had permitted a total of only five earned runs, going 3-0.

"I felt like I was dragging an anchor behind me the whole time I was pitching," Wainwright said. "The worst part about it is we're still in the wild-card race in September, and your club needs a win and you ask you pitcher to go out and throw a good game, and I didn't do it."

Ian Snell wasn't much better. He allowed six runs - five earned - and nine hits in four innings - enabling St. Louis to take a 6-2 lead in the fourth, courtesy of Felipe Lopez's two-run homer.

St. Louis scored an unearned run during its first at-bat when Skip Schumaker came home on Albert Pujols' double-play ball, but the Pirates took the lead in the bottom of the inning with a pair of sacrifice flies.

The Cardinals took the lead right back against Snell in the second with two-out RBI hits by Jason LaRue, Schumaker and Pujols.

"It was one of those things where we didn't get many hits (against the bullpen) and if we did it was only one an inning," said Aaron Miles, one of four Cardinals with two hits. "We just couldn't string anything together."