Jaime Garcia works 7 scoreless innings; Cardinals beat Pirates 4-1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Charlie Morton pitched a strong game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
But his frustrations against the Cardinals continued.
St. Louis got seven scoreless innings from Jaime Garcia and took advantage of a bad-hop grounder to score two runs and went on to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1.
The Cardinals pushed their lead in the NL Central to 6 1/2 games.
Morton (8-7) worked six innings and allowed only one earned run on four singles but still was saddled with his eighth straight loss against St. Louis.
"It was a good outing against a good team, but it's frustrating to keep coming here," said Morton, who has given up two-or-fewer earned runs in four of his past five starts against the Cardinals. "I feel like I've pitched against them pretty well. I just want to beat them."
The Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second without the ball leaving the infield. Morton loaded the bases by walking two and hitting Jon Jay. With two out, Stephen Piscotty hit a grounder up the middle that took a high hop near second base and forced Josh Harrison into a rushed throw, which got past first base and allowed both runners to score.
"My read was either I'm going to trip over the bag or the ball's going to hit it," Harrison said. "The ball must have hit one of those funky spots and you try to make a do-or-die play. It was a chopper that happens once in a blue moon and I guess today it was a blue moon."
Harrison was charged with an error while Piscotty was credited with one RBI and a single that extended his hitting streak to 12 games. The streak is the longest on the team this season and longest by a Cardinals rookie since Jay hit in 12 straight in 2010.
"I was kind of shocked to see where he was playing me," said Piscotty of a shift that had the second baseman Harrison playing almost directly behind the base. "When I hit it, I thought it was up the middle. When I saw where he was, I put my head down and ran."
Garcia (8-4) limited the Pirates to four hits and walked one while striking out a season-high nine in his 50th career win. Sean Rodriguez had three of the four hits allowed by Garcia.
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"He challenges your discipline as much as anything," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He had us out in front, we had a lot of chases and not a lot of hard contact. He controlled our bat speed."
Matt Carpenter pushed the Cardinals' lead to 4-0 when he hit his 21st homer with a runner on in the seventh. Carpenter said shadows on the field made hitting tough early in the game.
The Pirates used a string of pinch hitters to rally in the ninth against Trevor Rosenthal. Pedro Alvarez singled to score Neil Walker with two out in the ninth before Rosenthal struck out Gregory Polanco with two on to end the game.
A sellout of 45,139 pushed the Cardinals over the 3 million attendance mark for the 10th time in the 10-year history of Busch Stadium and the 19th time in franchise history.
CHOATE TURNS 40
The Cardinals recognized LHP Randy Choate's 40th birthday by wearing T-shirts commemorating the occasion before the game. Choate said he wants to play at least five more years.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams (right quad) went through a running drill at close to 100 percent as he inched toward a return from May 29 surgery.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (15-8, 2.64) gave up five runs and lasted four innings in his worst start of the season Tuesday at Milwaukee. Cole went 5 1/3 innings and lost 4-2 at Busch Stadium last month.
Cardinals: RHP John Lackey (11-8, 2.87) will be trying for his 15th consecutive quality start at Busch Stadium this season. The Cardinals have gone 11-3 and Lackey owns a 1.89 ERA in at home.