St. Louis Cardinals: Cardinals take series thanks to late inning rally

After finding themselves down 4-1 through five, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 as the offense came through in the clutch.

The St. Louis Cardinals were able to take two out of three in the Steel City even with Miles Mikolas not having the best outing. Matt Carpenter continued his hot streak as he had a leadoff double and would be driven in by a Marcell Ozuna infield single.

Mikolas kept things under control through three, but the Pirates broke through in the fourth with a Colin Moran single that scored Austin Meadows. In the following inning the Pirates would strike for three more runs as Mikolas walked the leadoff hitter in Elias Diaz, who was a late addition to the lineup as Francisco Cervelli had flu like symptoms.

Adam Frazier delivered with a two run triple three batters later and Meadows drove him in via a sacrifice fly to left. St. Louis had a golden opportunity to get right back in it the next inning, but Ozuna grounded into a double play with men on the corners.

More from Redbird Rants

• Report: Cardinals Emerge As Mystery Team for Carlos Rodon
• Cardinals: Trade targets after signing Willson Contreras
• Reflecting on the 2013 Cardinals’ top 30 prospects
• Cardinals: Here is Willson Contreras’ first message for St. Louis fans
• How do the St. Louis Cardinals stack up with Willson Contreras?

However, the team put that behind them quickly and scored two in the seventh on a Jedd Gyorko two out, two run single that scored Kolten Wong and Yairo Munoz. Right back to work, the offense went in the eighth as the first three batters reached on a single and back to back walks.

Tyler O’Neill struck out, but Harrison Bader would bloop a single to right to tie the game after Felipe Vazquez came in to originally face Wong. Vazquez, who looked shaken up after being removed from his outing, proceeded to walk Munoz and then Carson Kelly would drive in the club’s sixth run on a fielder’s choice.

The bullpen was on point this afternoon with Sam Tuivailala and Jordan Hicks getting holds and  Bud Norris shutting the door to combine for three no hit innings.

Meanwhile, the Pirates pen allowed three runs in its two and two-thirds innings of work while walking four batters.

Honorary Star: Bench Coach Mike Shildt

Shildt took a foul ball off of his head in the dugout, but would return later on.

Third Star: LF Austin Meadows (2-3, R, RBI, SB)

Meadows has been impressive thus far as he had done nothing but swing a hot bat. His team might have lost, but he had a solid performance.

Second Star: PH Jedd Gyorko (1-1, 2 RBI

Gyorko got the comeback started with the aforementioned two out, two run single.

First Star: 3B Matt Carpenter (2-4, R, 2 2B, BB)

Carpenter may not have driven in any runs, but got on base three times and seems to have re-found himself at the dish as of late. In his last eleven games,including today’s, Marp is hitting an even .400.

Next: John Mabry should be the offensive fall guy

Tomorrow the Cardinals will be in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers at 1:10pm CT as Luke Weaver (3-4, 4.31) takes on Brent Suter (4-3, 4.56).