Pirates 11, Cardinals 6
Pedro Alvarez homered and drove in four and Charlie Morton earned his first major league win since May as the Pittsburgh Pirates dominated the St. Louis Cardinals, 11-6, on Wednesday.
Garrett Jones added three hits and scored a pair and Andrew McCutchen chipped in two hits and two runs scored for the Pirates, who have won five games in a row.
Kyle Lohse (4-8) struggled for the Cardinals, allowing a pair of runs in the first inning on Jose Tabata’s RBI triple and Neil Walker’s run-scoring groundout. Pittsburgh also tacked on another run in the second as John Bowker belted a solo homer.
Lohse could not get it under control, allowing three more in the third on Jones’ ground-rule double and Alvarez’s two-run double before being pulled.
The St. Louis bullpen wasn’t much better, as P.J. Walters allowed four more runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to let the game get out of hand.
Morton (2-11), who entered the contest with the worst ERA in the majors at 8.61, allowed just two runs on four hits in six innings while walking one and striking out five.