Pirates shuffle Cards

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Lance Lynn allowed eight runs in the first inning and the St. Louis Cardinals slipped up against the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-6 on Saturday night.

St. Louis (81-73) entered the day 11/2 games behind Colorado for the second NL wild card. The loss ended the Cardinals’ four-game winning streak. St. Louis remained five games behind the Cubs in the NL Central after Chicago lost to Milwaukee, which is a half-game ahead of the Cardinals.

Lynn (11-8) got two outs before being pulled after six hits and eight runs. It was his shortest outing since Aug. 13, 2015, also at Pittsburgh.

Tommy Pham gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead against Gerrit Cole (12-11) two batters into the game when he sent the first pitch of his at-bat over the center-field wall. Pham was 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Then Pittsburgh got to Lynn. David Freese and Elias Dias each singled with the bases loaded before Jordy Mercer and Starling Marte each tripled to build an 8-2 lead. Marte also walked in the inning, and Adam Frazier doubled and walked in the inning.

Marte added another Pirates run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning, Mercer made it 10-3 with a double in the fifth and Freese also doubled to make it 11-6 in the eighth.

Even with two wins in its past three games, Pittsburgh (70-85) has lost eight of its past 10.

Cole (12-11) allowed five runs and seven hits for his first win since Aug. 26. He had lost three straight decisions.

On his 42nd pitch of the first inning, Lynn walked Frazier before manager Mike Matheny pulled him in favor of reliever Josh Lucas. He had not allowed more than seven runs in a start this season.