Cardinals 2, Pirates 1
Rookie Michael Wacha pitched 7 1/3 no-hit innings and Matt Holliday belted a two-run homer as visiting St. Louis knotted the National League Division Series at two games apiece.
Holliday's blast made a winner of the 22-year-old Wacha (1-0) and set up a winner-take-all Game 5 between the NL Central rivals Wednesday in St. Louis. Wacha, who came within one out of a no-hitter in his last regular-season start, allowed only Pedro Alvarez's solo homer and tied his season high with nine strikeouts before leaving with one out in the eighth.
Carlos Martinez got the final two outs in the eighth inning and closer Trevor Rosenthal worked around a pair of two-out walks in the ninth to give the Cardinals only their fourth win in 12 games this season in Pittsburgh. St. Louis will send ace Adam Wainwright to the mound in Game 5 against rookie Gerrit Cole, the winning pitcher in Game 2.
Charlie Morton (0-1) was the hard-luck loser, giving up two runs on only three hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings to drop his seventh consecutive decision against the Cardinals. He walked Carlos Beltran to lead off the sixth and Holliday followed with a mammoth blast to straightaway center to break the scoreless deadlock.
Wacha simply overpowered the Pirates, retiring the first 15 batters before allowing a leadoff walk in the sixth, and cruised into the eighth before Alvarez ended his no-hit and shutout bids with a blast to right field - his third homer of the series. St. Louis managed only three hits but improved to 7-1 in playoff elimination games since 2011.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The only postseason no-hitters in major-league history were thrown by Don Larsen of the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series and Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS against Cincinnati. ... Alvarez became the third player in franchise history to swat three homers in a postseason series, joining Hall of Famer Willie Stargell in the 1979 World Series and Bob Robertson in the 1971 NLCS. ... Holliday's homer was only the second by a St. Louis player this season in Pittsburgh, following Beltran's blast in Sunday's Game 3.