Pirates 3, Cardinals 1
Kevin Correia threw seven scoreless innings for his second victory as the surprising Pirates beat the punchless Cardinals 3-1 Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium in the rubber game of a three-game series.
Correia, a free agent acquisition who had a 5.40 ERA with the Padres
last year, allowed five hits and two walks with three strikeouts and
lowered his ERA to 1.38.
Pittsburgh (4-2) grabbed the lead in the fourth off Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter when Lyle Overbay reached on an infield hit, advanced on first baseman Albert Pujols’ throwing error and scored on Ryan Doumit’s double. Neil Walker’s second homer of the season made it 2-0 in the fifth. In the eighth, Andrew McCutchen and Overbay smoked back-to-back doubles for the final run.
The Cardinals finally scored in the ninth when Yadier Molina doubled in Lance Berkman before Joel Hanrahan shut the door for his fourth save in as many chances. St. Louis (2-4) has scored 15 runs all season.
Pujols went 1-for-4 and is batting .182.
Carpenter (0-1) was the hard-luck loser, allowing one earned run in six innings.