Paulino's 2 miscues help Cardinals win
PITTSBURGH — The St. Louis Cardinals climbed back into the NL Central race by twice rallying from big deficits against Milwaukee last weekend. The Pittsburgh Pirates should have known better than to give them a second chance.
Two misplays by Pirates catcher Ronny Paulino in the same at-bat helped St. Louis score the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, and the Cardinals won their fourth in a row by extending Pittsburgh's July slide with a 6-4 victory Tuesday night.
The Cardinals matched their longest winning streak of the season and Adam Wainwright (10-8) limited the Pirates to two runs over six innings.
David Eckstein and Skip Schumaker hit consecutive sacrifice flies during a two-run seventh inning and the Cardinals won their 38th in 53 games in PNC Park — easily the best record of any team since the ballpark opened in 2001.
The Pirates wasted another effective start by Paul Maholm (7-13) and two RBI by Jack Wilson to lose their 14th in 16 games since the All-Star break. Maholm, the only Pirates pitcher to win since July 8, held St. Louis to two earned runs over six innings and probably should have gotten out of the sixth inning without allowing a run.
He retired the first two batters before Scott Rolen singled. Maholm got Ryan Ludwick to hit a routine popup behind the plate, but Paulino was slow to turn and look for the ball and didn't appear to see it until it bounced off his glove for his 17th error in two seasons.
Ludwick promptly doubled to center, though the Pirates appeared to have Rolen thrown out at the plate. But Paulino dropped shortstop Wilson's relay throw and Rolen scored. Paulino was not charged with an error for the dropped throw and Ludwick was credited with an RBI double.
"I don't know why that happens," Ludwick said, referring to how many times a batter seems to get a hit after being given second life during an at-bat. "They say bad things happen to a (losing) team when that happens. All I know is I got a good pitch to hit."
If it's bad, it's bound to happen to these Pirates. Fittingly, Paulino led off the bottom of the sixth and was denied an apparent extra-base hit when left fielder Ludwick stretched out to make an excellent catch.
Afterward, manager Jim Tracy was upset that yet another dropped throw at the plate by Paulino cost the Pirates again. There is no statistic for such plays but, as Tracy said, "I don't know (why it happens), but there have been a bunch of them."
Maholm was more supportive of his catcher, who was booed loudly during the misplay and again during his next two at-bats.
"That's one of the hardest balls to catch," Maholm said. "I had a chance to make a pitch and get out of the inning and I didn't get out of it. I could have gotten him off the hook."
Except with his manager. Tracy said of the number of dropped throws, "Something has to happen there."
