Martinez, Holliday lead Cardinals over Pirates 5-1

Stewart is likely to get the bulk of the playing time behind the plate, though he left the game in the seventh inning with left ankle discomfort…. Jonathon Niese takes the hill, and he’s 6-2 with a 3.93 ERA and 49 strikeouts this season.

“He was in the zone”, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said, “but a lot of those times the execution was lacking. This is great; we played a great three games”.

“I always want to go out there and do my work for all nine innings”, Martinez said. “You make those decisions, and we weren’t able to get him out, and it snowballed on us after that”. St. Louis ranks fifth with 82 home runs. For the Pirates, it’s the first day since May 13 they have not had a game (or two) scheduled…. Matt Adams hit an RBI double to extend his hitting streak to 10 games and scored on Jhonny Peralta’s single before Brandon Moss’ two-run homer, his 14th, capped the outburst.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Holliday, right, rounds third to greetings from coach Chris Maloney after hitting a three run home run off Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Francisco Liriano during the fifth inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, June 11, 2016.

“I’m all right, ” Cole said.

Cole was removed after giving up a leadoff single to Carpenter. He was relieved by AJ Schugel after not allowing a run in two-plus innings.

The Pirates could do nothing against Cardinals righty Carlos Martinez, who allowed one run in 81/3 innings. He entered Saturday’s game as an injury replacement, catching the final two innings and going 0-for-2.

Tyler Anderson pitched into the seventh inning in his major league debut, Mark Reynolds homered and Colorado beat San Diego.

Cervelli injured his hand on a swing (MLB.com video here) in the fourth inning and had to leave the game. Triple A Indianapolis offers 30-year-old minor league veteran Ed Easley, who appeared in four major league games for the Cardinals last year, his first taste of The Show, and 26-year-old Jacob Stallings, who has hit.203/.244/.344 in his first exposure to Triple A. It’s telling that the Pirates went after Kratz rather than promote one of those two, and if Stewart requires a disabled list stay, they may make a similar move for a comparable catch-and-throw veteran. However, Cole has been their best starter, leading the team with a 2.77 ERA, a 3.05 FIP with a 2.08 ERA in his last six starts prior to his abbreviated, but still scoreless, outing on Friday night.

The Cardinals and the Pirates are now tied for second place with 32-28 records. St. Louis, though, trails the first-place Cubs by nine games.

Yadier Molina’s third single, a couple of misplays by the Pittsburgh defense and Randal Grichuk’s home run, snapping a nothing-for-15 slide, highlighted a four-run sixth inning for the Cardinals that hiked their lead back to 8-2.