PIRATES Rolen's rare errors cost Cardinals

Pittsburgh has won nine of 12 and has won four straight against St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Scott Rolen's first two-error game in three seasons cost the St. Louis Cardinals.
Rolen's second error in two innings allowed the go-ahead run to score in the 10th, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday night.
"I had a ball hit to me that I should have fielded and didn't," Rolen said. "I don't feel good about it. I was right in front of it and I should have made the play."
His last two-error game was April 14, 2001, in Atlanta.
Reggie Sanders tied it at 2 in the ninth with a two-out homer off Pittsburgh closer Jose Mesa.
Oliver Perez had 10 strikeouts and allowed only an unearned run in seven innings for the Pirates, who have won nine of 12 and have a four-game winning streak against the NL Central leaders.
Recent struggles
Mesa (5-1) has 33 saves in 38 chances but has struggled recently, giving up three homers and eight runs in his last six innings spanning four appearances.
Rolen has seven errors this season. The five-time Gold Glove third baseman also dropped a foul popup by Rob Mackowiak in the ninth, but Mackowiak ended up striking out.
"That was crucial," Rolen said, jokingly. "I didn't remember having two errors."
The Pirates have beaten the Cardinals four straight times for the first time since 1997, when they won five straight from June 5 to July 6.
The game was delayed by rain for 72 minutes before the bottom of the eighth.
Tike Redman drew a walk from Steve Kline (2-2) with one out in the 10th, Jason Kendall singled to put runners at the corners and the left-handed hitting Daryle Ward was walked intentionally by the left-handed Kline to load the bases.
Rolen misplayed pinch-hitter Jose Bautista's sharp grounder to third, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
Josh Grabow worked the 10th for his first save.
Strong performances
Tony Womack had four hits to match his career best and Albert Pujols extended his hitting streak to 10 games for the Cardinals, who have the best record in the major leagues at 78-42 and are 32-10 since they were swept in a three-game series at Pittsburgh June 28-30. St. Louis has lost consecutive games for the first time since July 23-24 against the Giants.
Sanders' homer kept alive Jason Marquis' nine-game winning streak over 14 starts since his last loss on May 26 to the Pirates in St. Louis. Marquis gave up two runs on five hits in eight innings and recovered after a slow start, retiring 17 of his last 18 batters.
Perez struck out Larry Walker all three times. He reached double figures in strikeouts for the eighth time this season and 13th time in his career, and walked only two.
"Both pitchers played great games," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "It was too bad the rain delay happened.
"There was no way I was going to let Perez go back out there, no matter how many pitches he had thrown."