Pirates’ offensive woes continue

Associated Press

St. Louis

Shelby Miller finally solved Pittsburgh, pitching 52/3 scoreless innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh Friday night.

Miller (2-2) entered the game with an 0-5 record and a 5.93 ERA against the Pirates. He allowed just three hits and four walks while striking out four.

Pat Neshek, Kevin Siegrist, Carlos Martinez and Kevin Rosenthal followed Miller and preserved the shutout. Rosenthal struck out the side in the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.

Matt Holliday had three hits, a walk and drove in the only run with a first-inning double. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, matching his career high set in 2007.

Pirates starter Gerrit Cole (2-2) pitched seven innings and allowed a run on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

The Pirates lost for the seventh time in nine tries. Pittsburgh has won just three of its last 12 games.

St. Louis got the only run it would need in the first. Matt Carpenter led off with a bunt single down the third baseline and he went to second on Jon Jay’s fielder’s choice to first. Holliday then doubled to right, scoring Carpenter.

Pittsburgh had Miller on the ropes in the third, as singles by Cole and Jose Tabata and a walk to Neil Walker loaded the bases. But Miller got Andrew McCutchen to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

In the eighth, Pittsburgh had runners on first and third with no one out against Martinez after pinch hitter Starling Marte was hit by a pitch and Tabata singled him to third. Martinez got Marte hung up on a fielder’s choice back to him for the first out.

After an intentional walk to McCutchen, Martinez struck out Pedro Alvarez and Chris Stewart to end the threat.

GRILLI

The Pirates attempted to put closer Jason Grilli on the 15-day disabled list but were unable to complete the move before the game.

Grilli has a strained muscle on his left side, and Pittsburgh wanted to replace him on the roster by promoting right-hander Jared Hughes from Triple-A Indianapolis. However, because Hughes was on the active roster Thursday, the Pirates could not backdate Grilli’s stint on the DL and the transaction was not finalized.

An All-Star last season, Grilli (0-1) has converted only four of seven save opportunities and blown his last two chances. He has a 4.50 ERA.

Setup man Mark Melancon is expected to assume the closer role in place of Grilli,. Left-hander Tony Watson also could be used to close.