Tucker sparks Pirates in 4-3 win over Cardinals

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cole Tucker drove in the go-ahead run and also scored in extra innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in a doubleheader opener Thursday.

The seven-inning game went to extras tied at one, and Tucker scored automatic runner Jarrod Dyson with a single off John Gant (0-2). Pittsburgh added two more runs with two outs on an RBI single by Bryan Reynolds and an error by third baseman Brad Miller.

Chad Kuhl delivered six innings of one-run ball for Pittsburgh, Chris Stratton (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh and Richard Rodriguez allowed two runs but got his second save by pitching the eighth.

St. Louis scored on a sacrifice fly by Kolten Wong and single by Paul Goldschmidt that bounced off Rodriguez.

It was the fifth extra-inning game this season for Pittsburgh and the first for St. Louis. This was the Pirates first victory in the new format, and dating to last season, they had lost 11 straight extra-inning games.

Yadier Molina led off the fifth with a home run against Kuhl for a 1-1 tie. It was Molina’s 157th career home run, passing Matt Holiday for 11th on the Cardinals career list. He also passed Joe “Ducky” Medwick with his 924th career RBI for eighth in Cardinals history.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead when Jacob Stallings hit a two-out single to score Tucker in the fourth inning for an unearned run off starter Kwang Hyun Kim, who pitched six innings. Stallings has hit safely in six of his last seven games.

BACK AFTER SITTING OUT

OF Dexter Fowler returned to the starting lineup and played right field in Game 1 of the doubleheader. Fowler, along with pitcher Jack Flaherty, opted to sit out Wednesday’s game to protest social injustice after the shooting of a Black man by a police officer in Wisconsin.

Flaherty said he...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Tucker-sparks-Pirates-in-4-3-win-over-Cardinals-15520392.php