O'Neill powers Cardinals to 11-5 win over Pirates

[September 12, 2018]  Tyler O'Neill hit a three-run homer and Marcell Ozuna had three RBIs Tuesday night in the St. Louis Cardinals' 11-5 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium.

St. Louis won its third straight, remaining 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs in the National League Central and moving to within 1 1/2 games of Milwaukee for the top wild-card spot in the league.

Corey Dickerson drove in two with a single and a double for Pittsburgh, which lost its second in a row.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas (15-4) allowed one run and five hits in seven innings, with seven strikeouts and one walk.

Pittsburgh starter Joe Musgrove (6-9) struck out eight and at one point retired 14 in a row, but allowed four runs and four hits in six innings, with two walks.

The Cardinals scored twice in the first. Matt Carpenter walked, and Jose Martinez singled. Matt Adams' groundout left runners at second and third, setting up Ozuna's two-run double.

In the fourth, Pittsburgh's Josh Bell doubled to left, moved to third on Francisco Cervelli's groundout, and scored on Dickerson's base hit to make it 2-1.

St. Louis loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth. Carpenter, who started things off with a single, eventually scored on a wild pitch. Paul DeJong's sacrifice fly provided a 4-1 lead.

Cardinals right fielder Tyler O'Neill (41) hits a three run home run off of Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Nick Burdi (not pictured) during the eighth inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

St. Louis tacked on another in the seventh when Tanner Anderson, the third pitcher of the inning, threw a bases-loaded wild pitch, pushing the lead to 5-1.

Pittsburgh right-hander Nick Burdi, in his major league debut, gave up four runs (three earned) in the eighth on an error by third baseman Colin Moran that could have been a double-play ball, and O'Neill's three-run homer, making it 9-1.

Later in the eighth, Clay Holmes gave up an RBI double to Adolis Garcia and a sacrifice fly to Ozuna for the Cardinals' 10th and 11th runs.

Against Luke Weaver in the ninth, Dickerson and Kevin Newman each had an RBI double for Pittsburgh, and Kevin Kramer and Adam Frazier RBI singles, leading to four runs in the inning.

--Field Level Media

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