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A16 SPORTS
Thursday 25 July 2024

Pérez works 6 scoreless innings, Tellez

splashes a homer into the river as

Pirates top Cardinals 5-0

By WES CROSBY ery outing I’m always going walking three and striking
Associated Press to trust my stuff. That hap- out three.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Martín pened today. I was able The Pirates, who have won
Pérez pitched six scoreless to compete and throw a eight of their last 10 games,
innings, Rowdy Tellez hom- lot of pitches in the strike took two of three from the
ered into the Allegheny zone.” Phillies and Cardinals in
River and the Pittsburgh Pi- Tellez chased Matthew Lib- their first two series after
rates beat St. Louis 5-0 on eratore (2-3) at the start of the All-Star break. They
Wednesday to take two of the fourth inning by send- are third in the NL Central,
three games from the Car- ing a fastball 447 feet into one game behind second-
dinals. the river beyond the wall in place St. Louis.
Pérez (2-5) allowed four right field, extending the Pi- “Very important. We get
hits, three in his final two in- rates’ lead to five runs. the best team in baseball
nings, and walked five with “It was a good day. It was and then we get the team
two strikeouts. The 33-year- a good win,” Tellez said. that’s ahead of us in the di-
old left-hander entered “Martín pitched his butt off. vision,” Pittsburgh manager
with a 5.61 ERA after allow- We needed that going into Derek Shelton said. “So, to
ing 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings this road trip. It puts us in a go 4-2 on the homestand is
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Martín Pérez delivers during the
first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals in over his last two starts. good spot.” off to a good start. ... We
Pittsburgh, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. “I got confidence,” Pérez Liberatore allowed five runs have to continue to play
Associated Press said. “It doesn’t matter. Ev- on four hits in three innings, well, but very proud of how
we responded coming out
of the break.”
The Cardinals, 1/2 game
ahead of the Padres for
the third wild card, strand-
ed 11 runners and slipped
to 3-3 since coming out of
the break.
Connor Joe capped a
four-run second inning with
a two-out, two-run double
to left-center, a liner that
center fielder Dylan Carl-
son failed to bring in on
a dive. Joe, batting third,
picked up his first RBIs since
June 11.
Tellez opened the scoring
with an RBI single to center.
Liberatore walked Andrew
McCutchen with the bases
loaded to make it 2-0.
“’Libby’ just wasn’t sharp
early,” Cardinals manager
Oliver Marmol said. “You
look at the first 10 hitters,
three-ball count in five out
of 10. Walked three, hit
one. Settled in after that.”
Pedro Pagés and Masyn
Winn each hit a two-out
single before Alec Burleson
walked for St. Louis in the
fifth inning. Pérez got Will-
son Contreras to ground
to third, leaving the bases
loaded.
Contreras flew out to right
in the seventh, ending the
inning with runners on sec-
ond and third.
“We didn’t come through
with the big hit,” Marmol
said. “Offensively, we just
didn’t do enough. ... It’s
been all year. We’re bat-
tling through it. q