Cardinals 12, Pirates 3
Carlos Beltran homered twice and had a career-best seven RBIs as host St. Louis roughed up Pittsburgh.
Beltran went 4-for-5 and hit three-run homers in the first and third innings against Pirates starter A.J. Burnett (1-2).
Lance Lynn (5-0) gave up two runs and three hits in 6 2/3 innings to join Tampa Bay’s James Shields as the only five-game winners. Lynn struck out six and walked one.
The Cardinals have scored 22 runs in the first two games of the series and have reached double digits in runs six times this season.
Beltran’s three-run shot in the first followed Matt Holliday’s run-scoring single to highlight a four-run inning.
Beltran added an RBI single in the Cardinals’ three-run second inning and then hit his second three-run blast in a five-run third – his seventh home run of the season – to make it 12-1.
Burnett allowed 12 runs and 12 hits in just 2 2/3 innings. The last Pittsburgh pitcher to give up 12 runs in a game was Glenn Spencer against the Chicago Cubs on April 24, 1932.
Jon Jay had three hits and scored three runs and Matt Carpenter also had three hits for St. Louis, which had 17 hits. Holliday scored three times and had two RBIs.
Josh Harrison had RBI singles in the seventh and ninth innings for the Pirates. Clint Barmes had a run-scoring double in the second for Pittsburgh’s other run.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Beltran hit more homers and drove in more runs in the first three innings than former Cardinals star Albert Pujols (no homers, five RBIs) has all season for the Angels entering Wednesday’s play … Spencer pitched all eight innings of the 1932 game and gave up 16 hits as Pittsburgh was hammered 12-3 … Daniel Descalso and Carpenter each hit triples for the Cardinals … Jose Tabata was hitless in four at-bats to go without a hit for just the third time in 26 career games against St. Louis.