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 Cole escaped his with a zero on the scoreboard. Wacha allowed
three runs in his extended mound time.
While much happened after those innings in Pittsburgh's 10-5 win at
Busch Stadium, those long innings helped shape the narrative for the
Pirates' fifth victory in six meetings with their National League
Central rivals.
"I thought we were making good pitches that inning, but there were a
couple of close calls we didn't get," Cole said. "We were just
trying to trust what we had and keep attacking."
Cole (3-3) had to get four outs in the first, which helped account
for his lengthy inning. After Stephen Piscotty singled and stole
second with one out, Matt Holliday reached when he swung through a
third strike that bounced away from catcher Chris Stewart for a wild
pitch.
Yadier Molina drew a two-out walk, giving Jeremy Hazelbaker a chance
to swing the bat with the bases loaded. But Hazelbaker's bat never
left his left shoulder as Cole got ahead with two fastballs, then
buried a slider under his hands for a called third strike.
 While Cole toiled hard for four innings, Wacha breezed through his
first 4 1/3 innings. The tall right-hander retired the first nine
men he faced and faced Jordy Mercer with one out in the fifth,
having allowed just two hits and made only 53 pitches.
At that point, Wacha's command went from impeccable to harmful.
After walking Mercer, Wacha left a changeup up for Stewart, who
striped the left field line with a game-tying double into the
corner.
One out later, John Jaso went to work, getting the count advantage
and then fouling off three two-strike pitches. On the ninth pitch of
his at-bat, Jaso struck, lifting a changeup into the seats in right
for a two-run blast that gave Pittsburgh (17-14) a 3-1 lead.
"It was a meatball changeup and he didn't miss it," Wacha said.
"Give him credit, though. He had a great at-bat."
From there, the Pirates kept hitting, driving Wacha (2-3) out after
six innings and then pouncing on relievers Matt Bowman and Jonathan
Broxton for six runs over the final three innings.
Bowman faced four hitters in the seventh without retiring one,
Gregory Polanco chasing him with a three-run homer that struck the
left field foul pole about two inches from its base that upped the
Pittsburgh lead to 8-2.
"I was a little surprised," Polanco said of his homer. "I hit it
good, on the barrel. I was more worried about it staying fair.
Whenever you hit the ball to the opposite field, it's good."
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Those runs seemed like window-dressing at the time, but came in
handy when St. Louis (16-16) worked over two relievers for three
runs in its half of the seventh, Molina slapping a two-run single to
cap the rally and pull it within 8-5.
Josh Harrison and Stewart tacked on RBI singles in the ninth, and
closer Mark Melancon induced a bases-loaded double play bouncer from
Molina to pick up his ninth save.
"We were a bad-bounce ground-rule double away from a sweep," Pirates
manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's yardwork to come in here and win,
but we did it."
Cole worked six innings, allowing six hits and two runs with two
walks and seven strikeouts. Wacha permitted four runs off six hits
and two walks in his six innings, whiffing six.
The Cardinals finished their 10-game homestand at 4-6, dropping to
5-11 against teams with winning records, and head out to Los Angeles
for a six-game road trip against the Angels and Dodgers.
"We're waiting to catch fire," said Piscotty, who tied a career high
with four hits. "I've got a real good feeling that we're going to do
it."
NOTES: St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright's ground-rule double in the
third inning Saturday made him the first pitcher to record an
extra-base hit in four consecutive at-bats since Snake Wiltse of the
1901 Philadelphia A's. ... RHP Tyler Glasnow, rated the top prospect
in Pittsburgh's farm system, fired seven shutout innings for
Triple-A Indianapolis Saturday night and hasn't allowed a run in 18
innings during his last three starts. ... Umpire Dana DeMuth, who
took a foul ball off the mask Saturday in the first inning and left
before the third inning, was replaced by Tom Woodring for Sunday's
game. DeMuth was under MLB's "head injury" protocol following his
departure.
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reserved.]
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