Matt Carpenter jumped on a Tony Watson fastball and hit a solo shot which turned out to be the Cardinals 15th pinch hit homer of the season.  Randal Grichuk and Jhonny Peralta followed with home runs of their own as the Cardinals rallied with two outs in the ninth to grab the lead and hold on for a 9-7 win over the Pirates.

The Cardinals ended the night with five home runs and ran their streak to 25 straight games in which they have homered, matching a National League record.  The pinch hit homer set a MLB record for most in a season.

Yadier Molina hit a grand slam in the first inning and Matt Adams sent one beyond the right field wall into the Allegheny River.

Despite jumping out to a 5-0 lead, Luke Weaver, Matt Bowman and shoddy defense let the lead slip away and the Cardinals found themselves down 6-5 heading into the ninth.

After Carpenter tied it, Molina capped off a four-hit night with a double, before Grichuk’s 22nd homer put the Cardinals back on top.   Peralta followed with his seventh and the lead was back up to three.

In the ninth, Jung Ho Kang hit his second solo homer of the game for Pittsburgh, but Seung Kwan Oh closed out the win to keep the Cardinals one game up on New York for the second Wild Card spot.