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 Instead, the Cardinals' postgame comments were laced with concern
about All-Star catcher Yadier Molina, who left the game in the
bottom of the third inning with a sprained right thumb.
"Any time you take him out, you know it's pretty bad," St. Louis
manager Mike Matheny said. "You could feel the irritation in his
thumb, but he taped it up and wanted to play. We're going to have to
wait and see."
Molina suffered the injury in the second inning on a hard slide into
third base as he advanced on a groundout by right fielder Allen
Craig. Assistant trainer Chris Conroy and Matheny attended to
Molina, who appeared to be shaking his hand vigorously as play
resumed.
Molina caught in the third but was replaced by a pinch hitter,
backup catcher Tony Cruz, in the Cardinals' half of the inning. The
team plans to re-evaluate Molina on Thursday morning.
"You hope everything is OK with him," said St. Louis starter Lance
Lynn, who pitched 6 2/3 innings for his 10th win against six losses.
Things were OK for the Cardinals' offense, which collected 14 hits
and scored in three of the first four innings to establish a lead
the Cardinals never gave up. First baseman Matt Adams went 3-for-5,
giving him 11 hits in the last five games, and doubled home two runs
in the first off Brandon Cumpton (3-3).
Left fielder Matt Holliday reached base four times, going 2-for-3
with two walks and an RBI single in the fourth. Second baseman
Kolten Wong capped the scoring by lining his third homer in four
games, a two-out solo blast in the seventh.
Lynn allowed six hits and two runs, walking two and striking out
four in a 110-pitch outing. His last pitch produced a 5-4-3 double
play from pinch hitter Matt Hague with two on and none out in the
top of the seventh, helping cut off a promising Pirates rally.
Second baseman Neil Walker homered and doubled for Pittsburgh,
scoring both runs. But it wasn't enough for an offense that has
managed just six runs in the series' first three games.
"We had the go-ahead run to the plate in the seventh, but we just
didn't have enough offense to win this one," Pirates manager Clint
Hurdle said.
After entering the series in second place in the Central, Pittsburgh
(47-44) has fallen into fourth behind St. Louis and streaking
Cincinnati.
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Meanwhile, the Cardinals (50-42) are eight games over .500 for
the first time all year and just two games behind Milwaukee, whom
they meet this weekend at Miller Park.
"I'd say September is when you start paying attention to the
scoreboard," Lynn said. "This game was just as big as every other
game we've played all year."
Closer Trevor Rosenthal picked up his 27th save with a scoreless
ninth; center fielder Peter Bourjos gloved the 27th out with a
leaping catch at the wall that denied pinch hitter Russell Martin
extra bases.
St. Louis reached Cumpton, filling in for scheduled starter Gerrit
Cole (lat soreness), for nine hits and four runs over 3 1/3 innings.
Cumpton walked two and fanned three.
"He'd make a good pitch and then lose it for two or three pitches,"
catcher Chris Stewart said. "He couldn't pound the strike zone
continually."
NOTES: Pittsburgh placed OF Starling Marte on the bereavement list
and called up 1B Matt Hague, the International League leader in
RBIs, from Triple-A Indianapolis. Marte will miss at least the next
three games after his mother-in-law died. ... St. Louis LHP Kevin
Siegrist (left forearm strain) will start a rehab assignment at
Double-A Springfield this weekend. Siegrist has been sidelined since
May 24 when he was disabled after an outing in Cincinnati. ... The
Pirates officially added RHP Gerrit Cole (lat soreness) to the
disabled list. Cole admitted Monday night that he was going back on
the DL after cutting his bullpen session short. He was supposed to
start Wednesday night's game.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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