The St Louis Cardinals used a 7 run inning and solid pitching to rout the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 in game one of the NL Division Series. Carlos Beltran‘s three-run homer sparked a seven-run third inning and the St. Louis Cardinals got seven strong innings from Adam Wainwright to open a commanding 7-0 in the third.
Beltran has 15 home runs, 10 doubles and 28 RBIs in 35 postseason games. He also has scored 40 runs and stolen 11 bases.
The Pirates ended a 21-year postseason drought and entered their first best-of-5 division series with apparent momentum after beating Cincinnati in the wild-card game Tuesday. They never threatened to rally against the Cardinals’ ace and finished with only four hits.
A.J. Burnett was chased in the third inning marking the second shortest start in his career.
“Game 164 was rough,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “One of the things we’ve been good at is we don’t overcook things.”
Lance Lynn (15-10) faces Pittsburgh rookie Gerrit Cole (10-7) in Game 2 on Friday.
