Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals Box Score on Jun 23, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 23, 2017

ST. LOUIS -- John Jaso barely checked his swing on a 2-2 pitch that would have resulted in the third out of the top of the ninth inning.

His next swing won the Pittsburgh Pirates a game.

Jaso clouted a tiebreaking homer Friday night as Pittsburgh rallied for a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at sold-out Busch Stadium.

It was the fifth homer for Jaso, who pounced on a changeup over the middle of the plate from Seung Hwan Oh (1-4) and drilled it 406 feet into the seats in right-center field.

Felipe Rivero (3-1) earned the win, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings. He bailed the Pirates (34-40) out of eighth-inning trouble, getting a lineout from Aledmys Diaz and a flyout from Paul DeJong to strand runners at the corners. Rivero then pitched around a leadoff walk to Eric Fryer in the ninth.

DeJong gave St. Louis (33-39) a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh with a solo homer to right-center, his fifth of the year. But David Freese erased the lead with a two-out RBI single in the eighth.

Both starters were no-decisioned despite quality starts. Pittsburgh's Jameson Taillon worked six innings, permitting four hits and two runs with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright, who allowed 20 runs over 10 1/3 innings in his last three starts, checked the Pirates on two hits over seven innings. Wainwright allowed two runs, one of them earned, walked two and whiffed five.

Pittsburgh initiated the scoring in the top of the second inning when Josh Bell lined his 14th homer of the year into the right field seats.

St. Louis wiped out the early deficit in its half of the second with one swing of Jose Martinez's bat. He ripped a 95 mph fastball on a line just over the wall in left after a Jedd Gyorko leadoff walk. The two-run shot was Martinez's fifth homer.

The Pirates tied the score in the fourth with help from second baseman DeJong's two-base throwing error on Bell's routine chopper. It was the Cardinals' seventh error in three games. Andrew McCutchen cashed in on the miscue with a groundout that plated Freese.

NOTES: St. Louis CF Dexter Fowler (quad) sat out his second straight game on Friday night after being injured Wednesday night in Philadelphia. Fowler is optimistic that he'll be able to return to the lineup Saturday night. ... The Cardinals also scratched C Yadier Molina (knee) from their lineup after he noted tightness from getting hit by a foul tip in Thursday's 5-1 loss to the Phillies. Eric Fryer got the start in Molina's place. ... Pittsburgh CF Andrew McCutchen has a streak of 14 homers in nine consecutive seasons, making him just the second player in franchise history to accomplish the feat. Willie Stargell hit 14 or more in 13 straight years from 1964-76.