The Pittsburgh Pirates are likely Alex Carter Youth Jersey to make the playoffs as a wild card team this season, but they still remain on the fringes of the division race. Gerrit Cole got them one step closer to that dream Sunday in a 7-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
As expected, Cole was masterful against St. Louis. The 24-year-old ace tossed seven scoreless frames, giving up just two hits. He walked three and struck out seven during the performance.
Cole wasn't just a force on the mound, though, he managed to make a big impact at the plate as well. With a one-run lead, Cole helped his own cause. In the seventh inning, he hit an RBI single to center, giving himself a 2-0 lead.
While he didn't come around to score, Cole showed http://www.officialauthenticlions.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_MANNY_RAMIREZ_JERSEY.html great awareness on the bases, going first to third on a single during the inning.
With the win, the Pirates improved to 81-54. The team currently holds the top wild card spot in the National League. They trail the Cardinals by 5.5 games in the NL Central.
''I watched him growing up and everybody knows what a competitor he is and we knew we were in for a fist fight when we saw he was penciled in,'' Cole said.
The second-place Pirates cut the Cardinals' lead in the NL Central to 5 1/2 games and earned their first series victory at Busch Stadium since April 2013. The teams are 8-8 against each other with one series to play at Pittsburgh in the final week of the season.
Even the 37-year-old Lackey was impressed with Cole, who threw a 99 mph fastball on his 94th pitch.
''He's a great pitcher right now,'' Lackey said. ''He's got great stuff and pitched really well.''
Asked how it felt to know now that Cole was pulling for him in the World Series against the San Francisco Giants, Lackey said: ''I guess I've been around a while. I knew he went to UCLA so he probably grew up an Angels fan. That's cool.''
Lackey (11-9) pitched well Cliff Lee White Jersey, too, allowing three runs and 10 hits in 7 1-3 innings while extending his streak of quality starts at home to 15.
Cole also drove in his first run of the season with a two-out single over second baseman Kolten Wong in the seventh.
''I was just looking up in the zone,'' Cole said. ''I'm always trying to look up in the zone so I'm not late, and I just got enough of it over Wong's head.''
The Cardinals did not get a hit off Cole until there was one out in the fifth when Jon Jay singled to center on a soft liner.
Rookie pinch-hitter Cody Stanley drove in St. Louis' run with a ninth-inning single.
Lackey breezed through the first three innings on 29 pitches but, after walking and running the bases in the bottom of the third, was tagged for four hits and one run in the fourth.
Lackey exited http://www.authenticphilliesshop.com/authentic-20-mike-schmidt-jersey.html after giving up a home run to Ramirez, the 38th of his career against the Cardinals, with one out in the eight. Rodriguez added a two-run shot off Steve Cishek, and Marte hit a two-run drive off Mitch Harris in the ninth.