ST. LOUIS - Russell Martin hit a two-run home run to highlight a four-run seventh inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Saturday.
The comeback gave A.J. Burnett (2-2) his second victory over St. Louis in 10 days. He gave up 2 runs and 5 hits in 6 innings. His six strikeouts expanded his team record for April to a league-leading 48. Burnett (Central Arkansas Christian) threw seven shutout innings in a 5-0 victory over St. Louis on April 17.
St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook left after six innings with a 2-0 lead in search of his 100th career victory. He struck out six and scattered six hits to lower his ERA to 0.98 in four starts.
The Pirates had three consecutive hits against reliever Joe Kelly (0-1) to lead off the seventh and were aided by a hit by pitch and a walk to score four runs. Martin’s fifth home run of the season drove in Pedro Alvarez to tie the score 2-2, Andrew McCutchen walked with the bases loaded and Garrett Jones grounded in Starling Marte.
They added their fifth run on a double by Martin and a sacrifice fly from Gaby Sanchez. Martin has a hit in 10 of his past 11 games.
NATIONALS 6, REDS 3 Bryce Harper hit a two-run home run and scored twice, Dan Haren (2-3) had his best start of the season and host Washington beat Cincinnati.
PHILLIES 9, METS 4 Domonic Brown and John Mayberry Jr. hit consecutive home runs to break open a close game and visiting Philadelphia beat New York.
CUBS 3, MARLINS 2 David DeJesus hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning to help lift visiting Chicago to a victory over Miami.Bryant’s Travis Wood (2-1) pitched six innings, allowing two runs, and struck out five for Chicago, which has won four of five.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, ROCKIES 2 Cody Ross’ sacrifice fly to center field drove in A.J. Pollock with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting host Arizona to a victory over Colorado.
INTERLEAGUE TIGERS 7, BRAVES 4 Omar Infante and Jhonny Peralta hit two-run home runs, and Rick Porcello (1-2) bounced back from a nightmarish start last weekend to pitch into the seventh inning, helping host Detroit to a victory over Atlanta.
AMERICAN LEAGUE ORIOLES 7, ATHLETICS 3 Nick Markakis and Adam Jones hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning, Chris Tillman pitched six innings for his first vicory of the season and visiting Baltimore beat Oakland.
TWINS 7, RANGERS 2 Pedro Hernandez pitched five shutout innings for his first major league victory, Josh Willingham homered and host Minnesota beat Texas. Anthony Swarzak,Brian Duensing and Jared Burton each worked a scoreless inning before Glen Perkins struggled in the ninth, giving up a two-run double to Mitch Moreland. Derek Holland (1-2) pitched seven innings of five-hit ball for Texas.
YANKEES 5, BLUE JAYS 4 Travis Hafner hit a three-run home run, then lumbered around the bases for a go-ahead triple in the seventh inning that sent CC Sabathia and host New York over Toronto.
MARINERS 3, ANGELS 2 Kendrys Morales snapped a 2-2 tie with a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh inning, Felix Hernandez (3-2) allowed just one earned run and five hits over eight innings, and host Seattle beat Los Angeles. ROYALS 3, INDIANS 2 Ervin Santana (3-1) pitched seven scoreless innings, Salvador Perez hit a two-run home run and host Kansas City held on to beat Cleveland.
RAYS 10, WHITE SOX 4 Matt Moore became the first Tampa Bay pitcher to win five games in April as the Rays snapped a two-game losing streak with a victory over host Chicago.
RED SOX 8, ASTROS 4 David Ortiz had two hits and three RBI, and Felix Doubront pitched into the seventh as host Boston beat Houston.
Saturday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE Washington 6, Cincinnati 3 Philadelphia 9, NY Mets 4 Pittsburgh 5, St. Louis 3 Chicago Cubs 3, Miami 2 Arizona 3, Colorado 2 (10) San Francisco at San Diego, (n) Milwaukee at LA Dodgers, (n) AMERICAN LEAGUE Baltimore 7, Oakland 3 NY Yankees 5, Toronto 4 Minnesota 7, Texas 2 Kansas City 3, Cleveland 2 Boston 8, Houston 4 Tampa Bay 10, Chicago White Sox 4 Seattle 3, LA Angels 2 INTERLEAGUE Detroit 7, Atlanta 4
Sports, Pages 26 on 04/28/2013