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ST. LOUIS -- Pittsburgh Pirates starter Gerrit Cole and St. Louis Cardinals starter Michael Wacha each endured 33-pitch innings Sunday. Cole escaped his with a zero on the scoreboard. Wacha allowed three runs in his extended mound time.
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While much happened after those innings in Pittsburgh's 10-5 win at Busch Stadium, those long innings helped shape the narrative for the Pirates' fifth victory in six meetings with their National League Central rivals.
"I thought we were making good pitches that inning, but there were a couple of close calls we didn't get," Cole said. "We were just trying to trust what we had and keep attacking."
Cole (3-3) had to get four outs in the first, which helped account for his lengthy inning. After Stephen Piscotty singled and stole second with one out, Matt Holliday reached when he swung through a third strike that bounced away from catcher Chris Stewart for a wild pitch.
Yadier Molina drew a two-out walk, giving Jeremy Hazelbaker a chance to swing the bat with the bases loaded. But Hazelbaker's bat never left his left shoulder as Cole got ahead with two fastballs, then buried a slider under his hands for a called third strike.
While Cole toiled hard for four innings, Wacha breezed through his first 4 1/3 innings. The tall right-hander retired the first nine men he faced and faced Jordy Mercer with one out in the fifth, having allowed just two hits and made only 53 pitches.
At that point, Wacha's command went from impeccable to harmful. After walking Mercer, Wacha left a changeup up for Stewart, who striped the left field line with a game-tying double into the corner.
One out later, John Jaso went to work, getting the count advantage and then fouling off three two-strike pitches. On the ninth pitch of his at-bat, Jaso struck, lifting a changeup into the seats in right for a two-run blast that gave Pittsburgh (17-14) a 3-1 lead.
"It was a meatball changeup and he didn't miss it," Wacha said. "Give him credit, though. He had a great at-bat."
From there, the Pirates kept hitting, driving Wacha (2-3) out after six innings and then pouncing on relievers Matt Bowman and Jonathan Broxton for six runs over the final three innings.
Bowman faced four hitters in the seventh without retiring one, Gregory Polanco chasing him with a three-run homer that struck the left field foul pole about two inches from its base that upped the Pittsburgh lead to 8-2.
"I was a little surprised," Polanco said of his homer. "I hit it good, on the barrel. I was more worried about it staying fair. Whenever you hit the ball to the opposite field, it's good."
Those runs seemed like window-dressing at the time, but came in handy when St. Louis (16-16) worked over two relievers for three runs in its half of the seventh, Molina slapping a two-run single to cap the rally and pull it within 8-5.
Josh Harrison and Stewart tacked on RBI singles in the ninth, and closer Mark Melancon induced a bases-loaded double play bouncer from Molina to pick up his ninth save.
"We were a bad-bounce ground-rule double away from a sweep," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's yardwork to come in here and win, but we did it."
Cole worked six innings, allowing six hits and two runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. Wacha permitted four runs off six hits and two walks in his six innings, whiffing six.
The Cardinals finished their 10-game homestand at 4-6, dropping to 5-11 against teams with winning records, and head out to Los Angeles for a six-game road trip against the Angels and Dodgers.
"We're waiting to catch fire," said Piscotty, who tied a career high with four hits. "I've got a real good feeling that we're going to do it."
NOTES: St. Louis RHP Adam Wainwright's ground-rule double in the third inning Saturday made him the first pitcher to record an extra-base hit in four consecutive at-bats since Snake Wiltse of the 1901 Philadelphia A's. ... RHP Tyler Glasnow, rated the top prospect in Pittsburgh's farm system, fired seven shutout innings for Triple-A Indianapolis Saturday night and hasn't allowed a run in 18 innings during his last three starts. ... Umpire Dana DeMuth, who took a foul ball off the mask Saturday in the first inning and left before the third inning, was replaced by Tom Woodring for Sunday's game. DeMuth was under MLB's "head injury" protocol following his departure.
