The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 10-6 Sunday to take three of the final four games in their series. Pirates first baseman Josh Bell hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning to help trigger the comeback. The Cardinals had built a 6-3 lead in the first two innings against Steven Brault, who allowed six runs on nine hits.
Bell is now riding an 12-game hitting streak and has home runs in three consecutive games. He went 4-for-4 Sunday with five RBI’s. Francisco Cervelli had three hits in the game.
The Bucs have won eight of their past 11 games, and improved to 20-17 overall. They remain 3-1/2 games behind first-place Chicago. The Pirates visit Arizona to open a three-game series tonight. Game time is 9:40pm. WISR pre-game will be 9:15pm. Nick Kingham will start for the Pirates.
Chris Archer will come off the Injured List Wednesday at start in the afternoon game with the Diamondbacks.
Over the weekend the Pirates acquired veteran pitcher Chris Stratton from the Los Angeles Angels for cash. They sent Dovydas Neverauskas back to Triple-A Indianapolis. Stratton earned the victory in Sunday’s game after pitching a scoreless sixth inning.