Cardinals keep pace with win over Pirates

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Not even a shaky defensive performance by Albert Pujols could cool the red-hot St. Louis Cardinals.

Nick Punto hit a go-ahead double in the ninth inning and the surging Cardinals overcame three errors by their superstar first baseman to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 Tuesday night.

Trying to stay in the wild card and NL Central races, the Cardinals won for the sixth time in seven games.

“We still got a huge hole to climb out of, but at least we’re playing some meaningful baseball in September,” Punto said.

The loss dropped the Pirates to 67-81. Once in the midst of a promising run, they are stuck with a non-winning season for the 19th straight year. Pittsburgh is just 16-37 since briefly moving into first place on July 19.

“We haven’t done enough things in a number of these games that have put us in position to have 81 losses, that’s where we are right now,” manager Clint Hurdle said.

Working on the day he signed a $21 million, two-year contract, Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter hit an early two-run single. He took a 4-2 lead into the seventh, but Andrew McCutchen tied it with a two-out homer.

The Pirates brought in closer Joel Hanrahan (0-4) in the ninth inning of a tie game, and he struggled with his command. Daniel Descalso collected his third single with one out and was replaced by Tyler Greene.

Punto has struggled with injuries this year but looked just fine drilling a Hanrahan fastball into the gap and Greene scored easily. Pujols provided some insurance with a sacrifice fly to take some of the sting out of his woeful night in the field. The two-time Gold Glove winner now has 14 errors this season.