ST. LOUIS _ The Cardinals' 4-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in Wednesday's series finale at Busch Stadium left them two games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second National League wild-card spot. And the Dodgers are coming to town for a four-game series beginning Thursday night, needing three wins to catch the Cardinals in the wild-card derby.
Pittsburgh right-hander Jameson Taillon (13-9) held the Cardinals to four hits and two runs over seven innings. Two of the hits were on the infield and one was a third-inning triple by mound opponent Daniel Poncedeleon. That was the first hit of Poncedeleon's career but he was stranded after that leadoff drive.
The Cardinals also left a runner who had reached third with fewer than two outs in the fifth. They had two on with nobody out in the eighth but tallied just once. And, down a run in the ninth, they had runners at first and third with one out and second and third, with two outs. But Paul DeJong and Matt Carpenter struck out against Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez.
"I think that game is indicative of how we played all year," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. "We scratch and claw and fight and put ourselves in the best position to win. And by the ninth we do, and tonight we came up a little bit short.
"We've left some money on the table, that's for sure. They executed their situational hitting a little bit better. We weren't able to execute when we had some opportunities."
DeJong, lamenting his at-bat, said, "(Vazquez) also seems to get me on that up-and-away corner. It's a tough pitch for me to handle. I was a little stagnant in my rhythm and it was by me."
The Cardinals were 3-for-14 with men in scoring positon and two of the hits did not score a run. DeJong praised both Taillon and Vazquez "but at the end of the day, you've got to execute no matter who's out there," he said.
"We didn't do that today and we ended up losing by one run in a game that we maybe could have won."
Poncedeleon (0-2) allowed only two runs in five innings, striking out seven. But Mike Mayers, just off the disabled list, gave up a two-run single in the sixth to Pirates catcher Jacob Stallings, who drove in a career-high three runs.
Marcell Ozuna drove in the first Cardinals' run with a single in the first. A forceout grounder by pinch hitter Jose Martinez knocked in the eighth-inning run. Patrick Wisdom's pinch single in the ninth accounted for the final run.
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw will pitch against unbeaten Cardinals rookie Austin Gomber (5-0) in a matchup of left-handers on Thursday.
