Pirates snap skid with 10th-inning win

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Xavier Paul was running. No matter what.

The Pittsburgh Pirate reserve watched the ball of the bat of teammate Chase d’Arnaud slice into the outfield with one out in the 10th inning against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday and decided he was taking off regardless of where the it landed.

“It was extra inning ballgame,” Paul said. “I felt like it was deep enough. I’m going to make him make a perfect throw to get me out.”

St. Louis centerfielder Colby Rasmus’ tracked down the ball but his throw to the plate never had a chance. Paul sprinted home with the winning run in a 4-3 victory as the Pirates avoided a three-game sweep.

“I think in that situation right there it’s do or die,” Paul said. “No way you’re going to get the chance to win the game [again]. It’s just a hustle play and it worked out in our favor.”

It’s what the Pirates have done all year. Though they lack the firepower of the other three NL Central contenders, they’ve made up for it by finding enough ways to win to remain in the thick of things well after the Fourth of July.

“Throughout the season that’s the way we’ve had to do it, that’s the way we’ll continue to plan on doing it,” said manager Clint Hurdle.

The sprint home was the third hustle play by Paul in the span of a minute. He reached first by beating out an infield single, then moved to third after stealing second and taking advantage when the throw from St. Louis catcher Gerald Laird rolled into center.

“He goes a hard 90 [feet], beats the play at first and next thing you know he’s on third after you try and steal a base,” Hurdle said. “That’s what we do and that’s what we need to do.”

Joe Beimel (1-1) retired the Cardinals in order to pick up his first victory as a Pirate in more than eight years as Pittsburgh snapped a three-game losing streak heading into a brutal stretch on the road against NL East leaders Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Ronny Cedeno and rookie catcher Eric Fryer had two hits apiece for the Pirates, who were badly outplayed in the first two games of the series but rallied three times on Sunday to prevent the sweep.

“We had a chance to win, we just couldn’t get it done,” said Laird, who committed two errors and was picked off of second base in the eighth. “In close games like that you’ve got to execute small ball and obviously make plays and we didn’t make plays and we gave them opportunities and they capitalized.”

Rasmus had two hits, including his 10th homer of the season for the Cardinals, who blew their 19th save of the season to fall into a virtual tie with the Pirates in the standings as their three-game winning streak ended with a thud. Jason Motte (3-2) took the loss in part because he failed to beat Paul to the bag on Paul’s infielder chopper in the 10th.

Jon Jay and Skip Schumaker also had two hits for the Cardinals, who appeared to be in charge after Rasmus’ deep homer to right field in the sixth off starter Charlie Morton put them up 3-2.

Pittsburgh rallied for the third time in the seventh to tie it by getting to St. Louis reliever Lance Lynn.

Cedeno led off the inning with a double and moved to third when Lynn and third baseman Daniel Descalso miscommunicated on a bunt attempt by Fryer. Cedeno tied it up on a double play by Steven Pearce and Pittsburgh’s bullpen shut the door.

The Cardinals never got a runner to third over the final 4 2/3 innings, as Jason Grilli, Chris Resop, Joel Hanrahan and Beimel held them in check.

“The game was delayed several minutes in the eighth when home plate umpire John Hirschbeck of Poland was hit in the groin with a foul ball. Hirschbeck was tended to by trainers but remained in the game.