O'Neill secure win for Cardinals against Pirates

St. Louis scored twice in the top of the 10th inning Wednesday on Tyler O'Neill's RBI single and a wild pitch as the visiting Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 for a two-game series sweep. With a 3-3 tie, Kolten Wong opened the St. Louis 10th by tripling off the wall in right off Nick Burdi (0-1). Harrison Bader walked, and O'Neill knocked in Wong to make it 4-3.

Francisco Liriano replaced Burdi. Matt Carpenter flew out, and Paul Goldschmidt walked to load the bases. Bader scored on a wild pitch. In the bottom of the 10th, Pittsburgh loaded the bases with one out against Alex Reyes on Francisco Cervelli's single and two walks. Dakota Hudson entered and walked J.B. Shuck to make it 5-4 but got Erik Gonzalez out on a foul pop and Pablo Reyes on a groundout to earn his first save.

Monday, the Pirates blew a 4-0 lead and lost 6-5 in 11 innings. Wednesday, they blew a 3-0 lead. Bader and Paul DeJong homered for the Cardinals. Adam Frazier was 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI single, Jung Ho Kang homered, and Gonzalez hit an RBI triple. St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas lasted five innings, allowing seven hits and three runs, with two strikeouts and two walks. John Gant (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth.

Pittsburgh starter Jameson Taillon gave up one run and three hits in seven innings, with five strikeouts and no walks. The Pirates scored twice in the second. Shuck got an infield hit and scored on Gonzalez's triple to the wall in right-centre. One out later Frazier grounded a single to right to make it 2-0.

In the third, Kang hit a two-out homer to left to make it 3-0. It was his first home run since Oct. 1, 2016. He missed all of 2017 and all but a few games last year because of injuries and visa problems related to DUIs in his native South Korea. DeJong led off the seventh with a homer, his second, to the left to cut it to 3-1. In the eighth, Wong led off with a four-pitch walk off reliever Keona Kela and scored when Bader blasted a homer to centre for a 3-3 tie.