ST. LOUIS_Every time the Pittsburgh Pirates scored on Saturday night, the St. Louis Cardinals responded as quickly as they could, keeping the game tied through seven innings.
The Pirates scored two runs in the top of the second inning, and the Cardinals scored two in the bottom. When the Pirates took the lead again with a home run in the seventh with an inside-the-park homer, the Cardinals evened it up with a home run into the seats in the bottom of the inning.
Finally, the Cardinals broke loose for a run of their own on a double by Paul DeJong in the eighth and an RBI groundout by Randal Grichuk to give the Cardinals a 4-3 win. The Cardinals kept pace with the Milwaukee Brewers, who beat the Cubs, in the Central Division, and trail the Cubs by three games. The Rockies, who have the second wild-card berth, were leading the Dodgers in Los Angeles and will also be 3 back there if the Rockies hold on.
DeJong hit a ground-rule double to open the eighth and took third on a grounder to second by Jose Martinez. The Pirates went to a shift with three infielders on the left side of the infield against Grichuk and the infield was in, creating a wall of Bucs. Grichuk hit the ball sharply and David Freese got his glove on it but didn't field it cleanly. He recovered to throw Grichuk out at first, but DeJong scored to take the lead.
The Cardinals sent Juan Nicasio out for the second consecutive night to get the save. After a leadoff single, he retired the next three hitters to finish the game.
The inside-the-park homer, by Pittsburgh's Adam Frazier, also cost the Cardinals, at least temporarily, center fielder Dexter Fowler. Fowler crashed into the center field wall with his left leg raised in the seventh, and he remained lying on the warning track until well after Frazier had circled the bases. He eventually got up and walked off the field, slowly, under his own power, accompanied by a trainer, and was replaced by Grichuk. The Cardinals said he came out with a left knee contusion.
That run put the Pirates ahead 3-2, but with two out in the bottom of the seventh, third baseman Matt Carpenter hit a fly to center that just cleared the wall for a game-tying homer. It was the 19th home run of the season for Carpenter.
The Cardinals got their first two home runs on a home run by Yadier Molina in the second, his 16th of the season.
Carlos Martinez struck out eight to give him 200 strikeouts for the season, joining Matt Scherzer and Jason deGrom as the National Leaguers to reach that mark this season. He's the youngest Cardinal to have 200 K's in a season since Steve Carlton in 1969.
