Pedro Alvarez homers as Pittsburgh Pirates shutout St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 – MLB Update
Pittsburgh Pirates showed great composure and character as they outclassed the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, August 29 in the finale of their three match series.
Pirates’ pitching rotation, in particular, displayed some top quality skills as they shut-out St. Louis in the second straight game. Starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez pitched six effective innings, allowing just three hits to grab his ninth win of the season.
Relief pitchers Tony Watson, Jason Grilli and Joel Hanrahan combined to pitch three scoreless inning to help Pirates complete a memorable victory.
Garrett Jones provided Pittsburgh with an excellent start as he doubled to deep right in the first inning to put his side on the board. Pedro Alvarez put Cardinals under immense pressure with a three run home-run to right in the third. Josh Harrison also
made useful contribution with the bat.
"We had to get back on the right track," right fielder Garrett Jones said. "We were in a little rut there where for whatever reason we couldn't get back on the winning track and things weren't going our way. We stayed positive, stayed confident and knowing
we could turn things around."
"You go against that offense and you put 18 zeros on the board in 18 innings, I couldn't be any prouder of them," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Offensively we found a way and had some two out big strikes. To finish the last 48 hours, we're going to battle."
Credit should be given to the Pirates for making a strong comeback after taking a heart breaking loss in the series opener. With their win, Clint Hurdle and company also improved their record to 70-60 and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain
their terrific form to grab one of the Wild Card spots before the end of the season.
Cardinals, on the other hand, failed to make the most of scoring opportunities and eventually paid the price. After securing a hard fought win in Game 1, they had an excellent chance of asserting dominance over their National League Central rivals but failed
to do so.
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