Walks Doom Pirates Against Cardinals

Brian Barton's two-run single in the fifth inning gave St. Louis the lead on its first hit off erratic Pittsburgh starter Tom Gorzelanny, and the Cardinals went on beat the Pirates 6-2 behind Joel Pineiro's seven effective innings Thursday night. The Cardinals avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.

They put nine runners on base—seven on Gorzelanny-issued walks—before finally getting a hit. Albert Pujols followed Barton's single with an RBI single that made it 3-1, and Brendan Ryan and Skip Schumaker drove in runs against Phil Dumatrait during a two-run sixth. Pujols went 2-for-2 and reached base in all five plate appearances. (More baseball stories.)