SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Pittsburgh 9, St. Louis 2
When: 7:05 PM ET, Monday, July 29, 2013
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Temperature: 74°
Umpires: Home - Jeff Kellogg, 1B - Eric Cooper, 2B - Paul Schrieber, 3B - Chad Fairchild
Attendance: 32084

Pirates 9, Cardinals 2:
Pedro Alvarez hit a three-run homer and Francisco Liriano pitched seven strong innings as host Pittsburgh beat St. Louis in the opener of a five-game series.

Andrew McCutchen had a run-scoring single prior to Alvarez’s first-inning blast as the Pirates moved within a half-game of first-place St. Louis in the National League Central.

Liriano (11-4) struck out eight and allowed one run and four hits while winning for the sixth time in seven starts. The left-hander has given up two or fewer runs in seven of his last eight outings.

Pittsburgh had a 4-0 lead before St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook (7-5) retired his first batter. McCutchen drove in the first run with a sharp single to center before Alvarez slammed his NL-leading 27th homer over the right-field fence.

The Cardinals got on the board in the sixth when pinch hitter Tony Cruz tripled and scored on Matt Carpenter’s single to center. Pittsburgh responded with five seventh-inning runs on Gaby Sanchez’s sacrifice fly, Alex Presley’s single, Clint Barnes’ two-run double and a pinch-hit single by Starling Marte.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Alvarez is 13-for-23 with three homers and 11 RBIs against Westbrook. … Westbrook allowed four runs and four hits in five innings to drop his career mark against the Pirates to 1-8. … Pittsburgh placed C Michael McKenry (knee) on the disabled list and recalled Presley from Triple-A Indianapolis.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Pittsburgh
Jake Westbrook Player Francisco Liriano
Loss W/L Win
5.0 IP 7.0
2 Strikeouts 8
4 Hits 4
7.20 ERA 1.29
Hitting
St. Louis   Pittsburgh
Matt Holliday Player Clint Barmes
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 2
0 HR 0
2 TB 4
.500 Avg .500
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 7 0 9 .212 15 10 2 2 0 0
Pittsburgh 9 1 15 .290 15 4 9 5 0 0