Offense doesn’t fail as Cardinals defeat Pirates 10-6

The Cardinals were able to prevail on Monday night with a 10-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
April 15, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning at PNC Park. The St. Louis Cardinals won 10-6. Image Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
What was meant to be a day to celebrate the life and career of Jackie Robinson turned sour with the news out of Boston. However, there was a baseball game that had to be played.

Lance Lynn took to the pitching rubber and the bats soon provided the offense as the Cardinals put up 7 runs in the second inning to take an 8-1 lead at the time.

The Cardinals offense in the second inning forced the Pirates to take starting pitcher Jason McDonald out of the ballgame.

Jon Jay got the runs started in the second on a 2-run double that drove in David Freese and Pete Kozma.

In the third inning, the Cardinals put two more runs up on the board. Those would be the final runs scored for the Cardinals.

The Pirates slowly made their way back into the game after when they scored 3 runs in the bottom of the third and two runs in the 8th. The Cardinals offensive production was too much for the Bucs to overcome last night.

Mike Matheny pulled Lynn after the 5th inning and replaced him with Joe Kelly on the mound. Kelly pitched 2 solid innings of relief with one strikeout and one hit allowed.

Marc Rzepczynski followed Kelly out of the bullpen but his outing was not a pleasant one. Scrabble allowed two runs on three hits in one inning of play.

In the top of the ninth inning, catcher Yadier Molina beat the throw from third base for an infield single. It speaks volume about just how much he has improved as a hitter since he came up to the major leagues.

Mitchell Boggs came in for the ninth inning. While it was not a save opportunity for the current Cardinals closer, Boggs allowed one hit, one walk, and struck out one batter. His ERA is now at 9.82 this season. His blown save against the Brewers on Sunday afternoon didn’t help his bloated ERA, which he will get down to a respectable number later this season.