ST. LOUIS — Pedro Alvarez's bases-empty home run against Barret Browning highlighted a three-run 19th inning by the Pittsburgh Pirates that gave them a 6-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday at Busch Stadium. It was the longest game in the major leagues this season in innings and matched the longest game in elapsed time (6 hours, 7 minutes). The game was tied at 2 through 16 innings and deadlocked at 3 through 18 innings.
How it went
Carlos Beltran's two-run double in the fourth put the Cardinals ahead 2-0 against Jeff Karstens. Allen Craig singled and Matt Holliday walked to open the inning, and Beltran followed with a double into the right-field corner. The hit snapped a 2-for-17 drought. Jaime Garcia, making his first start since June 5, committed an error before surrendering Josh Harrison's sacrifice fly and Andrew McCutchen's RBI infield single that tied the game in the sixth. Both runs were unearned. Each team scored a run in the 17th, but Alvarez's 23rd homer of the season put the Pirates ahead for good in the 19th. McCutchen added a two-run single later in the inning.
By the numbers
Garcia finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts in eight innings. He had no walks, making him the first Cardinals left-hander to strike out at least 10 with no bases on balls since Rick Ankiel on Sept. 13, 2000, at Pittsburgh ... The Cardinals were 11-for-68 (.162) against eight Pirates pitchers. They were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. ... The Cardinals also used eight pitchers. ... The 16 pitchers used threw 574 pitches, with Cardinals hurlers finishing with 293.
