GAME THREAD: NL: ST LOUIS (49-53) at PITTSBURGH (42-61)

NL: ST LOUIS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">ST LOUIS (6) VS PITTSBURGH (4) - FINAL

ST LOUIS ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D Eckstein ss 3 1 0 1 1 0 1 .300
S Taguchi cf 3 0 1 1 0 1 1 .297
a-S Schumaker ph-cf 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 .304
A Pujols 1b 3 1 1 0 1 0 1 .319
J Encarnacion rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .293
S Rolen 3b 4 2 2 0 0 1 2 .272
R Ludwick lf 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 .247
Y Molina c 3 0 1 2 0 0 1 .252
A Miles 2b 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 .281
A Wainwright p 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 .270
b-C Duncan ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 .288
R Springer p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Flores p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
R Franklin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
c-S Spiezio ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .282
J Isringhausen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 31 6 10 6 2 4 7

a-hit sacrifice fly to left for S Taguchi in the 7th; b-doubled to deep right
for A Wainwright in the 7th; c-grounded to third for R Franklin in the
9th.

BATTING: 2B - S Taguchi (12, P Maholm); R Ludwick (13, P Maholm); C Duncan (17,
S Torres); A Pujols (24, S Torres); S Rolen (18, S Chacon). S - R Ludwick. SF -
D Eckstein , Y Molina , S Schumaker. RBI - S Taguchi (18), Y Molina 2 (17), R
Ludwick (27), D Eckstein (16), S Schumaker (11). 2-out RBI - Y Molina, R
Ludwick. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - S Rolen 1, J Encarnacion 1,
Y Molina 1. GIDP - S Rolen. Team LOB - 5.

BASERUNNING: CS - R Ludwick (1, Home by P Maholm/R Paulino).

FIELDING: E - S Rolen (5, ground ball). DP: 1 (D Eckstein-A Miles-A Pujols).



PITTSBURGH ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
F Sanchez 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 .290
C Izturis 3b 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 .245
A LaRoche 1b 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 .244
J Bay lf 4 1 3 1 1 1 1 .258
X Nady cf 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 .289
N McLouth pr-cf 3 1 0 0 0 2 5 .231
R Doumit rf 4 1 1 1 0 0 5 .273
R Paulino c 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 .237
J Wilson ss 4 0 2 2 0 0 0 .252
P Maholm p 2 0 1 0 0 1 2 .190
a-M Kata ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .214
S Torres p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
S Chacon p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .273
b-J Phelps ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .304
J Grabow p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Totals 39 4 12 4 2 4 20

a-flied out to center for P Maholm in the 6th; b-reached on error for S Chacon
in the 8th.

BATTING: HR - R Doumit (8, 8th inning off R Franklin 0 on, 0 Out). RBI - J
Wilson 2 (28), J Bay (67), R Doumit (28). 2-out RBI - J Wilson 2. Runners left
in scoring position, 2 out - R Doumit 1, F Sanchez 1, N McLouth 1, P Maholm 1.
GIDP - N McLouth. Team LOB - 10.

FIELDING: E - R Paulino (6, dropped foul ball). DP: 1 (J Wilson-F Sanchez-A
LaRoche).


----------------------------------------------------
ST LOUIS - 100 101 210 -- 6
PITTSBURGH - 010 100 110 -- 4
----------------------------------------------------

ST LOUIS ip h r er bb so hr era
A Wainwright (W, 10-8) 6 8 2 2 1 3 0 4.38
R Springer (H, 8) 1/3 3 1 1 0 0 0 2.97
R Flores (H, 10) 2/3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.38
R Franklin (H, 17) 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1.33
J Isringhausen (S, 21) 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1.42

PITTSBURGH ip h r er bb so hr era
P Maholm (L, 7-13) 6 6 3 2 2 3 0 4.50
S Torres 1 3 2 2 0 0 0 5.00
S Chacon 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 3.79
J Grabow 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 4.65

HBP - R Ludwick (by P Maholm). Pitches-strikes: A Wainwright 101-60; R
Springer 11-8; R Flores 2-1; R Franklin 19-14; J Isringhausen 20-9; P Maholm
106-63; S Torres 25-15; S Chacon 18-11; J Grabow 8-7. Ground balls-fly balls: A
Wainwright 4-11; R Springer 1-0; R Flores 2-0; R Franklin 1-2; J Isringhausen
1-1; P Maholm 9-5; S Torres 1-2; S Chacon 2-1; J Grabow 2-0. Batters faced: A
Wainwright 27; R Springer 4; R Flores 1; R Franklin 5; J Isringhausen 4; P
Maholm 25; S Torres 6; S Chacon 4; J Grabow 3.

UMPIRES: HP--Hunter Wendelstedt. 1B--Randy Marsh. 2B--Bob Davidson. 3B--Brian
Knight.

T--2:59. Att--24,085.
Weather: 87 degrees, clear. Wind: 5 mph, out to
right.</div>

 

NL: ST LOUIS at PITTSBURGH

<div class="pre">NL FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
ST LOUIS 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 1 0 6 10 1
PITTSBURGH 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 4 12 1 (FINAL)

BATTERIES: STL - ADAM WAINWRIGHT, RUSS SPRINGER (7TH), RANDY FLORES (7TH), RYAN
FRANKLIN (8TH), JASON ISRINGHAUSEN (9TH) AND YADIER MOLINA

PIT - PAUL MAHOLM, SALOMON TORRES (7TH), SHAWN CHACON
(8TH), JOHN GRABOW (9TH) AND RONNY PAULINO


WP - ADAM WAINWRIGHT (10-8)
LP - PAUL MAHOLM (7-13)
SAVE - JASON ISRINGHAUSEN (21)

HOME RUNS: STL - NONE

PIT - RYAN DOUMIT (8) OFF RYAN FRANKLIN IN THE 8TH, 0 ON


TIME: 2:59 ATT: 24,085

PROBABLES: STL - BRADEN LOOPER (8-8, 4.85)
PIT - TONY ARMAS (0-3, 6.93)</div>

 

Wainwright, balanced offensive key Cardinals' fourth straight win

<h3>ST LOUIS 6, PITTSBURGH 4</h3>PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- After a deep first-half slumber, the St.Louis Cardinals appear to be waking up.


Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals' offense were each just goodenough as St. Louis matched a season high by winning its fourthgame in a row with a 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates onTuesday.


The Cardinals have won four straight contests for just thesecond time this season and moved within three games of .500(50-53) for the first time since April 28.


"We've talked about going to minus-four (four games under .500)and now we're minus-three," Cardinals manager Tony La Russasaid. "There have been several times that zero (the .500 mark)was so far away that we had to really force being optimistic.But now there's a light at the end of the tunnel if we keepwinning games. It's exciting to see the zero out there and notbe so far away."


St. Louis has been under .500 since April 17 and fell as many asnine games under on May 29 (20-29).


Wainwright (10-8), who won for the fourth time in his past fivedecisions, allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk in sixinnings, striking out three. After a rough first two months asa starter - 4-4 with a 5.59 ERA - the righthander has settleddown over the next two months, going 6-4 with a 3.43 ERA.

"The important thing is that we won," Wainwright said. "I'm notreally excited about the stuff I had today but it could havecome out worse. I made pitches when I had to."


Scott Rolen spearheaded St. Louis' offensive effort, collectingtwo hits and scoring twice. The third baseman singled andscored in the sixth to put the Cardinals up, 3-2, and doubledand scored in the eighth to advance the lead to 6-4.

Every Cardinals starter except for David Eckstein had a hit -and Eckstein scored a run and had an RBI.


"It's been a lot of fun these past few days," said Ryan Ludwick,whose RBI double scored Rolen in the sixth. "It's just one ofthose things where it worked out for us tonight because we areplying good ball as a team right now. We're just playing hardbaseball right now."


St. Louis' offense was just good enough to solve Pittsburghstarter Paul Maholm (7-13), who permitted three runs - twoearned - over six frames, striking out three and walking two.

The lefthander had won his previous two starts - Pittsburgh'sonly two victories since the All-Star break during a stretchthat has seen them drop 14 of their last 16.


"(Maholm) did not have his good command, but he certainlybattled to get through the six innings he got through,"Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "He certainly didn't deserveto be involved in a decision where he took a loss. That's veryunfortunate."


Three Cardinals relievers combined to surrender two runs overthe next two innings to make things interesting before turningit over to closer Jason Isringhausen, who worked around a walkin the ninth to post his 21st save in 23 chances.


Jason Bay had three hits and Ryan Doumit homered for thePirates, who fell to 5-52 in contests in which they trail aftersix innings.


"We had a dozen hits - so we had guys on base - but we onlyscored four runs," Bay said. "We need to do better than that.That's the way the game is."