St. Louis Cardinals Matt Adams celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk off RBI single in the tenth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on May 1, 2015. St. Louis won the game 2-1. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Matt Adams’ RBI single in the 10th inning sent the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night.
Jon Jay singled with two outs and Matt Carpenter followed with a double. After an intentional walk to Matt Holliday, Adams sent a 1-1 fastball from Rob Scahill (0-2) into left for the game-winner.
“It’s a great feeling. It’s a good way to get Game 1 of this series,” said Adams.
Randy Choate (1-0) got the win for a third of an inning in relief in the top of the 10th. Sean Rodriguez’s two-out single put runners at the corners in the when Choate came on for Matt Belisle and struck out Gregory Polanco.
Pittsburgh starter A.J. Burnett helped his own cause with an RBI single in the sixth to break a scoreless draw. Francisco Cervelli singled to begin the frame, then Jordy Mercer laced a double into left that put both runners in scoring position. Burnett stepped in and grounded a single right back up the box for a 1-0 lead.
“Six is alright but we need to mix some sevens and eights in there and go a little further,” Burnett said of the length of his outing.
Cardinals starter Lance Lynn walked Gregory Polanco to load the bases, but he worked out of the jam with a popout of Josh Harrison and strikeouts of Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker.
St. Louis tied the game in the seventh. Jhonny Peralta singled and Jason Heyward walked to get the inning underway, then both moved up on a double steal after Kolten Wong struck out for the second out of the frame. Reynolds knocked Peralta in with an infield single to second.
