Alvarez slam lifts Bucs to fourth straight win

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS

The Pittsburgh Pirates stuck with Pedro Alvarez, and now it’s paying off.

Alvarez hit a grand slam in the first inning off suddenly scuffling 10-game winner Lance Lynn and Andrew McCutchen had two hits before leaving with a sprained left wrist as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 Saturday for their fourth victory in a row.

“I’m the guy who kept running him out there. Not everybody was on that bandwagon,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “There weren’t a lot of ‘Pedro for Mayor’ signs being hung up in the ballpark.”

The Pirates got good news on a player they can’t afford to lose, too. X-rays showed no significant injury to McCutchen, who tweaked his wrist making a diving catch.

“I thought it was awesome and then I thought he was hurt,” pitcher Jeff Karstens said. “And I was like, ‘I wish he’d have missed it and not dived.

“He’s our best player, there’s no ifs and buts about it. He’s electric, he changes the game.’

Manager Clint Hurdle said McCutchen will probably rest today.

“I don’t get days off, I’m not trying to get days off,” McCutchen said. “I get days off in the offseason.”

Jeff Karstens (1-2) thrived in sweltering heat, allowing four hits with seven strikeouts in seven strong innings for his first victory since Aug. 10, 2011 at San Francisco. Karstens changed his pregame routine, running and stretching inside, and then confounded the Cardinals by changing speeds.

Pittsburgh matched its longest winning streak of the year aided by fast starts with 11 first-inning runs the last three games, and stayed one game back of NL Central-leading Cincinnati. It was 99 degrees for the first pitch and the temperature spiked to 103 later in the game.

The Pirates are a season-best seven games above .500 after finishing June 17-10, their most victories in a month since August of 2007. If they complete their first three-game sweep in St. Louis since May 27-29, 1991, today, it’ll mark the franchise’s high water mark since the final game of their 96-66 NL East championship team in 1992.