Pirates’ Alvarez continues torrid pace against Cards

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Pedro Alvarez stayed hot, blasting his 26th homer of the season and driving in three runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates rolled to a 5-0 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night.

The third baseman — who hit two homers on Tuesday — continued his season-long dominance of the Cardinals. His three-run shot in the third gave him seven home runs and 23 RBI in 15 games against St. Louis this year as Pittsburgh moved within one game of the NL’s second wild card spot.

Wandy Rodriguez (9-13) worked six tidy innings for Pittsburgh to pick up his first victory as a starter since being acquired in a trade last month. Rodriguez walked three and struck out three while helping the Pirates shut out the Cardinals for the second straight night.

Joe Kelly (4-6) battled control problems during five rocky innings, giving up five runs on eight hits.

The victory helped the Pirates take the season series from St. Louis 8-7, not an insignificant number with both teams battling for a postseason berth. If the two clubs are tied for the second wild card spot at the end of the regular season, the Pirates would have host the play-in game.

There’s still a long way to go before the first week of October, particularly for Pittsburgh. Still, the Pirates will head into September still in the mix, something they haven’t done in 20 years.

Pittsburgh appeared to be teetering on the edge of collapse following a 4-3 loss on Monday that dropped the Pirates three games back. They responded with a pair of convincing wins behind the streaky Alvarez.

The former first-round pick has finally developed into the lineup-anchoring power hitter the team envisioned when it drafted him four years ago. He’s certainly feasted on St. Louis pitching this season, going 23-for-58 (.396).

He gave Rodriguez all the offense necessary in the third. Coming to the plate with two on and two out, Alvarez drilled an 82 mph curveball from Kelly into the right field seats. The ball left the park so quickly Alvarez barely had time to break into his home run trot before it landed.

The blast gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead and Alvarez made it 5-0 in the fifth when he doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Josh Harrison.