Pirates give up lead, finally beat Cardinals

[August 04, 2018]  Adam Frazier's two-out RBI single in the eighth inning, his third hit, gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 7-6 win Friday over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals.

It was 6-6 entering the bottom of the eighth after the Pirates blew a four-run lead. Josh Harrison got a one-out infield single against Jordan Hicks (3-3), and Jordy Mercer walked. An out later, Frazier ripped the ball up the middle to bring Harrison home.

Gregory Polanco tripled and had three RBIs for Pittsburgh, which moved into third place alone in the National League Central after the clubs entered the game with identical records.

Matt Carpenter was 2 for 4 with a homer and two walks for St. Louis.

Right-hander Chris Archer, making his Pirates debut, allowed five runs, four earned, and seven hits in 4 1/3 innings, with six strikeouts and four walks.

Reliever Keone Kela also made his Pittsburgh debut, pitching a scoreless seventh. Kyle Crick (2-1) gave up the tying run in the eighth but picked up the win. Felipe Vazquez pitched the ninth for his 25th save.

St. Louis right-hander John Gant gave up six runs and eight hits in four innings, with five strikeouts and a walk.

Carpenter, the first batter to face Archer, sent a 2-0 pitch over the wall in right-center for his 27th homer and a 1-0 St. Louis lead.

Pittsburgh took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first on Polanco's two-run triple and Colin Moran's sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals drew to within 3-2 on Yairo Munoz's RBI double in the second inning.

The Pirates ran their lead to 6-2 in the third as Polanco brought in a run on a sacrifice fly, another scored on Francisco Cervelli's base hit, and a third on Harrison's RBI single.

The Cardinals drew to within 6-5 in the fifth. Jedd Gyorko and Dexter Fowler each hit one-out RBI singles to chase Archer. Against Edgar Santana, Munoz drove in another with a single.

St. Louis tied it in the eighth on Gyorko's RBI groundout.

--Field Level Media

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