Molina, Peralta power Cardinals past Pirates
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - Yadier Molina smacked a solo homer among his two hits and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-1, in the middle test of a three-game set.
Jhonny Peralta added a two-run shot and Matt Carpenter scored a pair of runs for the Cardinals, who are off to a 3-2 start. Joe Kelly (1-0) allowed a run on six hits and four walks over 5 1/3 innings to pick up the win.
Francisco Liriano (0-1) went 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA against St. Louis last season and was coming off a 10-strikeout performance over six scoreless frames in a no decision against the Chicago Cubs Monday, but surrendered four runs on seven hits and two walks over six innings Saturday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"He caught a lot of the plate with his pitches tonight," Molina said.
Travis Snyder had two of Pittsburgh's six hits. The Pirates went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
"We had opportunities to cash in and we weren't able to do it," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Carpenter singled and Peralta walked to begin the game before Carpenter came home on Matt Holliday's single up the middle. Allen Craig then lifted a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Peralta. Holliday crossed the plate on a Matt Adams single to make it, 3-0.
The Pirates got a run back in the third on Russell Martin's two-out, bases- loaded walk, but were unable to push across another after Neil Walker grounded out to shortstop to end the frame.
Molina smacked an 0-2 slider into the seats for a one-out solo shot in the sixth and a 4-1 Cardinals advantage. Peralta's two-run blast in the ninth accounted for the final margin.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
St. Louis was 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position ... The Pirates won 10 of 19 versus the Cardinals last season, winning seven of the 10 meetings in Pittsburgh.