ST. LOUIS (AP) Jaime Garcia pitched seven scoreless innings, Matt Carpenter homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 Saturday.
Garcia (8-4) gave up four hits and one walk while striking out nine for his 50th career win. Kevin Siegrist followed with a scoreless eighth before Trevor Rosenthal gave up a two-out run in the ninth.
Carpenter's 21st homer was a two-run shot in the seventh and put the Cardinals ahead 4-0.
The Cardinals pushed their lead over the Pirates back to 6 1/2 games in the NL Central.
Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton (8-7) went six innings and allowed two runs and four hits.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the second without the ball leaving the infield. Morton walked two and hit Jon Jay to load the bases. With two out, Stephen Piscotty hit a grounder up the middle that took a high hop and forced second baseman Josh Harrison into a rushed throw, which got past first base and allowed both runners to score.
Piscotty was credited with one RBI and a single that extended his hitting streak to 12 games. The streak equals the longest on the team this season and is the longest by a Cardinals rookie since Jay hit in 12 straight in 2010.
Andrew McCutchen singled in his first at-bat to extend a streak of reaching base in the first inning to 10 games.
Pinch-hitter Pedro Alvarez singled to score Neal Walker with two out in the ninth before Rosenthal struck out pinch-hitter Gregory Polanco with two on to end the game.
A sellout of 45,139 pushed the Cardinals over the 3 million attendance mark for the 10th time in the 10-year history of Busch Stadium and the 19th time in franchise history.
CHOATE TURNS 40
The Cardinals recognized LHP Randy Choate's 40th birthday by wearing T-shirts commemorating the occasion before the game. Choate said he wants to play at least five more years.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: 1B Matt Adams (right quad) went through a running drill at close to 100 percent as he inched towards a return from May 29 surgery.
UP NEXT
Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (15-8, 2.64) gave up five runs and lasted four innings in his worst start of the season Tuesday at Milwaukee. Cole went 5 1/3 innings and lost 4-2 at Busch Stadium last month.
Cardinals: RHP John Lackey (11-8, 2.87) will be trying for his 15th consecutive quality start at Busch Stadium this season. The Cardinals have gone 11-3 and Lackey owns a 1.89 ERA in at home.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.