PITTSBURGH _ The Cardinals drew one unintentional walk in the first 25 innings of their weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then, in a stark turnaround Sunday, they coaxed four walks in the eighth inning off a normally stingy Pirates bullpen, scoring three runs, to take their first lead of the game and then hang on for a 6-4 victory.
Harrison Bader, who had been just one for 11 as a pinch hitter, blooped a single to right to tie the score. Yairo Munoz drew one of the walks to force home Tommy Pham, who also had walked. And Carson Kelly beat out the relay on a double-play grounder to score the third run.
Jedd Gyorko's two-out, two-run pinch single in the seventh had got the Cardinals back into the game at 4-3. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had left-handed-batting Greg Garcia in the on-deck circle to bat against right-hander Edgar Santana but pulled him back in favor of right-handed-batting Gyorko, who had been hitless in five pinch at-bats. Garcia had been two for 16.
Matheny said he had been convinced by his coaches to change to Gyorko. "That was a little unconventional to bring in the right-hander when we typically would have Greg Garcia in there but (the coaches) liked what they saw and it absolutely was the right call," Matheny said.
Starter Miles Mikolas still is unbeaten at 6-0, though he allowed four runs in six innings. Sam Tuivailala gained the triumph with a perfect inning, which was matched by rookie Jordan Hicks in the eighth.
The Cardinals posted their second straight victory in the series after having just two hits to the outfield, both doubles by Matt Carpenter, in the first six innings.
Over the last two seasons, the Pirates had beaten the Cardinals six times in their previous seven meetings here before the Cardinals won on Saturday and Sunday, when they had a rare uprising against a Pittsburgh bullpen that mostly had stifled them.
"There's a lot of positives to build on," Matheny said. "Hopefully we can take this into Milwaukee with us."
On Monday, the Cardinals will start a three-game series against the hottest team in the league. Milwaukee is 34-20 and four games ahead of the second-place Cardinals in the National League Central Division.
