Leake, Cardinals shut down Pirates
ST. LOUIS -- It only took 14 games and five series, but the St. Louis Cardinals finally own consecutive wins and a series victory.
Mike Leake threw 6 1/3 solid innings in his third straight quality start, and a shaky bullpen got the job done in a 2-1 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.
Leake (2-1) scattered seven hits and allowed a run, walking none and striking out one. He recorded 12 of his 19 outs via grounders and actually saw his National League-low ERA rise to 0.84.
Brett Cecil bailed Leake out of a seventh-inning jam by inducing a 6-4-3 double play from pinch hitter Jose Osuna, who was making his major league debut. Matt Bowman tossed a scoreless eighth, and Seung Hwan Oh worked out of a bases-loaded spot in the ninth for his second save in as many nights.
Three singles allowed Pittsburgh to fill the bases against Oh, but pinch hitter Phil Gosselin bounced into a force play that erased pinch runner Alen Hanson at the plate before Adam Frazier flied out to left to end it.
Chad Kuhl (1-1) absorbed a tough-luck loss despite allowing only three hits and two runs in six innings, issuing a walk and whiffing three. Gregory Polanco knocked in Pittsburgh's only run with an infield out in the sixth.
The Pirates dropped to 6-8 despite outhitting the Cardinals 11-4.
St. Louis (5-9) scored in the first after Dexter Fowler, who entered the game in a 1-for-19 skid, laced a leadoff triple off the wall in right-center. He scored an out later on Stephen Piscotty's soft grounder to first base, easily beating Josh Bell's throw home.
The Cardinals made it 2-0 in the fifth when Greg Garcia ripped an RBI double to right-center, plating Jose Martinez. Garcia tried to stretch the hit into a triple and was thrown out, perhaps costing the team another run.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh did next to nothing with through five innings. Leake allowed five hits, earning nine outs via grounders and not permitting a Pirate to reach third base.
NOTES: To replace CF Starling Marte, who drew an 80-game suspension Tuesday for using nandrolone, Pittsburgh recalled OF Jose Osuna from Triple-A Indianapolis. ... St. Louis 1B Matt Carpenter (finger) didn't start for the second straight game after being injured fielding a bad-hop grounder Sunday night at the New York Yankees. ... Pirates 3B Jung Ho Kang has an appeals hearing set for May 25 in his native South Korea. Kang received an eight-month jail sentence, which was suspended for two years, in March for his third DUI conviction since 2009, and he hasn't been able to procure a United States work visa.