Cole wins MLB-best 13th as Pirates beat Cardinals 5

We’ve seen some mad ones before. “But today was one of those days”.

The best news is he just keeps getting better.

Carlos Martinez showed why he deserves to be a National League All-Star.

Gerrit Cole pitched seven strong innings to become the major leagues’ first 13-game victor and Neil Walker had a two-run homer among his three hits as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-2 on Friday…

Francisco Cervelli was livid, and was ejected.

The home run was also some revenge for Burnett, who was the victim of an apparent phantom foul tip for the second consecutive start earlier in the game. I mean, I was being asked two months ago if we’ve got enough offense. But that didn’t help a Pirates team fighting for the NL Central in the here and now. The right-hander earned the fifth spot in the Cardinals rotation out of spring training and has gone 9-3 with a 2.70 ERA in his first full season as a starter. “He just had a hard time finding the strike zone”.

Cole logged his 15th quality start in 18 attempts this season allowing two runs, a walk and six hits over seven innings.

Lackey has made five quality starts in a row with a 1.75 ERA in that span. He is 1-1 with a 3.32 ERA in four career starts against Pittsburgh.

The Pirates finally broke through to tie it against Kevin Siegrist in the eighth.

In the fourth inning, with a runner on, Walker swatted a 94 miles per hour Lynn fastball elevated out over the plate to the second row of the right-center field seats. Chris Stewart hit a ground ball single to right to score Kang. The host Pirates are arguably the MLB’s hottest team winning five straight, including eight of their last nine games.

But, after Reynolds’ heroics, Trevor Rosenthal couldn’t hold the lead in the home half. That said, you make an All-Star Game because of what you’ve done in a season, not what you’re capable of doing. Kang singled to left, G.Polanco scored, N.Walker to second. But that is when St Louis picked up four runs, four hits, and allowed no errors. The total sits at 6.5 runs. In the top of the 14th, Matt Carpenter drew a leadoff walk for St. Louis. Kang struck out. Mercer doubled to center, N.Walker scored, McCutchen to third. Moustakas has 87 hits on the season, trailing Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar by just one hit to lead the club. He has not needed a DL-stint, but one could be coming if he is unable to play.

Vance Worley was the last man out of the bullpen for the Pirates, and he picked up his third win against four losses in pitching the 13th and 14th frames.

“We’ve had guys who had some nice years”, said Matheny.

“In the beginning, when I saw all those names, I said, ‘Wow, that’s a big competition”. Burnett does. His struggle is the fans’ struggle. The next pitch from Burnett was the one that sailed over the fence. One of the cooler moments at PNC Park ever. This means another Royal in the All-Star game. His batting average is second to Lorenzo Cain, and he has the third-best on-base percentage among his teammates.

– Keeping a scorebook is cool.

– That game was pretty cool.