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Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Pittsburgh 7, St. Louis 1
When: 7:05 PM ET, Saturday, August 31, 2013
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Temperature: 83°
Umpires: Home - Mike DiMuro, 1B - Scott Barry, 2B - Alfonso Marquez, 3B - Ted Barrett
Attendance: 39514


Pirates 7, Cardinals 1: Russell Martin highlighted a five-run third inning with a three-run homer as host Pittsburgh cruised to victory in the battle for first place in the National League Central.

A.J. Burnett worked seven strong innings and Neil Walker went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Pirates, who took a one-game lead over the Cardinals in the division. Pittsburgh, which has outscored the Cardinals 12-1 over the first two games of the series, improved to 10-5 against St. Louis this season.

The Pirates took a 2-0 lead on back-to-back RBI singles by Burnett and Jose Tabata in the second inning. Carlos Beltran halved the deficit with a run-scoring base hit in the top of the third before Pittsburgh broke open the contest in the bottom half against Lance Lynn (13-9).

Marlon Byrd began the uprising with an RBI single and Garrett Jones walked before Martin deposited a 2-1 offering from Lynn over the center-field wall for a 6-1 advantage. Walker capped the rally with a run-scoring triple as the Pirates handed the Cardinals their third straight loss.

Burnett (7-9) limited St. Louis to one run and four hits, walking one and striking out six. Lynn was tagged for seven runs and 10 hits over four innings as he suffered his fourth consecutive loss.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Less than a week after adding Byrd and C John Buck in a deal with the New York Mets, Pittsburgh acquired 1B Justin Morneau from the Minnesota Twins on Saturday for OF Alex Presley and either cash or a player to be named. ... 1B Allen Craig recorded two of the six hits for St. Louis, which has scored a total of one run during its skid. ... RHP John Axford made his debut with the Cardinals after being acquired from Milwaukee on Friday. He tossed a perfect seventh inning.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
St. Louis   Pittsburgh
Lance Lynn Player A.J. Burnett
Loss W/L Win
4.0 IP 7.0
4 Strikeouts 6
10 Hits 4
15.75 ERA 1.29
Hitting
St. Louis   Pittsburgh
Allen Craig Player Neil Walker
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
2 TB 5
.500 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
St. Louis 6 0 6 .188 11 7 1 1 0 0
Pittsburgh 13 1 22 .351 15 6 7 3 0 0