On a night that featured the top candidates for the National League Cy Young Award, Yadier Molina help give a boost to his starting pitcher Michael Wacha.
Molina hit his second tripled of the season, driving in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, threw a runner out from his knees in the first and stole his second base of the season after doubling in the eighth. Molina’s two hits and five total bases helped add up to another Cardinals victory over Gerrit Cole and Pirates in a 4-2 final Wednesday night.
Both starting pitchers didn’t make it to the 7th inning. In fact, Cole didn’t finish the sixth after the Cardinals scored twice to break the 2-2 tie. Cole went 5.1 allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits while walking two and striking out six. Wacha, who tied Cole with 14 wins, went six innings, allowing nine hits and three walks while striking out seven.
Kevin Siegrist worked two innings and Trevor Rosenthal finished for his 35th save in 37 chances.
The Cardinals lead the second-place Pirates by seven games and will attempt to complete a three-game sweep on Thursday night. St. Louis improved to a season-best 33 games above .500 at 73-40. Pittsburgh needs to keep their eye on surging Chicago, who pulled to within 1.5 games of home field advantage for the one-game Wild Card.