Pirates’ Cole, Cervelli leave game with injuries

Offensively, Starling Marte leads Pittsburgh with 73 hits, Gregory Polanco has 39 RBI and Andrew McCutchen has nine home runs.

Liriano has done very well against the Cardinals this season.

The slumping Pirates are on their longest losing streak of the season. St. Louis entered this weekend series having lost 22 of its past 31 in Pittsburgh, but won a series at PNC Park for the first time since 2012 and earned a sweep there for the first time since 2008.

( KTRS ) Missouri Congressman William lacy Clay will be meeting with the new Ferguson Police Chief and local electe… “My fastball-cutter combination was working pretty well”. He went six innings in that win and allowed three base hits while striking out seven batters.

“Crazy things happen to us in this park, so when they get it within that kind of distance, and Trevor can come in and shut the door, he’s going to”, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

Holliday went 3-for-4 including an opposite field homer to right off Pittsburgh starter Jonathan Niese. The Pirates are 14-6 in their last 20 Sunday games and 0-4 in their last 4 during game 3 of a series.

Niese was charged with eight runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings. Manager Clint Hurdle liked what he saw. He’d gone 3-1 with a 1.74 ERA over his past five starts and tossed seven scoreless innings in his previous outing. “A lot of balls got up a little bit, more so than normal”.

Cole was removed in the third inning due to right triceps tightness after giving up a leadoff single to Matt Carpenter. 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.

Cardinals: St. Louis begins a stretch in which it will play American League teams 12 of the next 15 games, beginning with two games Tuesday and Wednesday against the Astros.

Liriano (4-6) was pitching on extra rest, starting for the first time since June 3, but still fell to 1-5 in his last six outings.

Pirates: For the first time in 32 days, the Pirates have a scheduled off day Monday.