Bucs drop seventh straight

Associated Press

pittsburgh

Adam Wainwright is still in search of his best stuff. His bat made sure his best wasn’t necessary.

The St. Louis ace drove in three runs and survived five occasionally bumpy innings to pick up his first victory since mid-July as the Cardinals drummed the staggering Pittsburgh Pirates 12-6 on Monday.

Wainwright hit an RBI-double off Chad Kuhl (3-3) in the second and added a two-run single in the fourth as the Cardinals held on to the second wild card spot in the National League by sending the Pirates to their seventh straight loss.

“We needed that win,” Wainwright said. “We need every win that we can get coming down the stretch. Any part that I can play in that is a treat for me, a privilege.”

Wainwright (10-8) allowed four runs and struck out five as his ERA rose to 4.61 while picking up his first victory since July 16. He hardly needed to be sharp as the Cardinals battered Pittsburgh’s beleaguered pitching staff. Jedd Gyorko and Matt Adams homered for St. Louis to extend the team’s streak of games with at least one home run to a club-record 24.

Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier hit home runs for the Pirates, who have been outscored 47-22 during their current slide. A week ago Pittsburgh was well within striking distance of the Cardinals for a playoff spot but have fallen 4 1/2 games behind St. Louis and dropped below .500 (67-68) for the first time since July 2.

“We’re trying to figure ourselves out and get out of this and get back to playing baseball the way we want to play,” shortstop Jordy Mercer said. “We just have to keep going.”

St. Louis pounded out 14 hits — eight for extra bases — against five pitchers and wasted little time getting to Kuhl, who has been steady if not spectacular since joining the rotation full-time a month ago.

Wainwright’s double to the wall in center field put the Cardinals in front and Stephen Piscotty’s two-run double later in the inning gave Wainwright an early cushion, one he flirted with giving away. Pittsburgh touched him for two runs in the bottom of the inning but Wainwright avoided major damage.