Cardinals clinch, force Pirates into wild-card game

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

The Pirates spent the last four months breathlessly trying to chase down the St. Louis Cardinals.

They’ll have to wait for the NL Division Series, if they make it that far.

Jason Heyward’s third-inning grand slam powered the Cardinals to an 11-1 rout of the Pirates in the second game of a doubleheader on Wednesday night, giving St. Louis its third straight division title and 11th since 1994 while relegating the Pirates to the wild-card game for a third consecutive year.

“The ultimate goal hasn’t changed, to win a world championship,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. “We’re just going to have go about it in a different method now.”

The Pirates have 277 wins since the start of the 2013 season, the second-best mark in the majors over that span. The resurgent franchise also has zero division crowns to show for it. Why? The Cardinals have 287 victories over the same period.

Pittsburgh’s 96-63 record heading into the final weekend of the season would be good enough to lead any of the other five divisions in the majors. Just not in the obscenely competitive NL Central. While St. Louis gets a few extra days of rest next week, the Pirates and Chicago Cubs will meet in the wild-card on Wednesday.

“You’ve got to man up,” Pittsburgh center fielder Andrew McCutchen said. “[The Cardinals] played better. They had 100 wins. We had 96. That’s why they won.“

The Pirates missed a chance to inject some real drama into the final days of the regular season when it left 16 runners on base in a 3-0 loss on Monday night. Though Gerrit Cole threw seven strong innings during an 8-2 victory in the opener on Wednesday to briefly pull the Pirates within three games, the Cardinals wasted little time getting to Game 2 starter Charlie Morton.

Then again, they always do. Morton came in winless against St. Louis since April 4, 2011, a span of 11 starts. Tasked with forcing St. Louis to wrap up the division in Atlanta on Friday, Morton faltered yet again.

Carpenter led off the game with a triple to the gap in left-center, with normally sure handed Pittsburgh outfielders McCutchen and Starling Marte letting the ball scoot between them and roll to the wall. Carpenter scored on a double play, Heyward singled and then scored on a double by Adams.

Morton (9-9) temporarily gathered himself only to unravel completely in the third. Carpenter doubled, Morton hit Jon Jay with a pitch and walked Jhonny Peralta. Reliever Bobby LaFromboise came in only to watch Heyward send his fourth pitch streaking into the seats in right-center to make it 6-0 and send the attendants in the visiting clubhouse at PNC Park scrambling to prepare for a postgame celebration.

“Folks showed up tonight, everybody’s excited, and I go out there and I give it up,” Morton said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

St. Louis starter Tyler Lyons (3-1) gave up four hits in seven innings, striking out five without a walk.