ST. LOUIS — The low-hit Jeff Locke was back Saturday night. If only he had been accompanied by the low-walk Locke, the Pirates could have had a better shot at that elusive 82nd win and first place, too.
Locke wasn’t, they don’t and they aren’t.
With St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright ending his own pitching slump in more dominant fashion by blanking the Bucs on two hits for seven innings, the Cardinals upended the Pirates, 5-0, to push a half-game ahead of them in the National League Central standings.
Locke allowed three hits in five innings, but a leadoff walk — one of four walks he issued — and a leadoff hit batter both came around to score to lower him into a 3-0 hole when he departed.
Perhaps the Bucs could still have had a chance by cloning Andrew McCutchen, who had both of the hits off Wainwright — who walked two and struck out eight, the first of which was career strikeout No. 1,096 to pass Dizzy Dean for second place on St. Louis’ all-time list, behind Bob Gibson.
Both teams have wary eyes on the Reds, who beat the Dodgers for the second straight day and lurk in third place, 1 1/2 games behind the Cards and one behind the Bucs.
Welcome to September Sizzle: After the conclusion of Sunday’s series finale here, the Pirates could be moving on to Texas in first, second or third place in the division.
The offensive surge that would have made a tentative Locke good enough was not forthcoming against Wainwright, who breezed where the Pirates’ pitcher staggered. Example: After Locke labored through a 27-pitch second, Wainwright set down the Bucs on 10 pitches, forcing his opponent back to the mound after a short break. Locke worked around Wainwright’s leadoff double that inning to keep the game scoreless.
Next up, Wainwright stood up to his only real threat, in the fourth. After McCutchen’s leadoff double was followed by a walk to Justin Morneau, Marlon Byrd’s grounder up the middle became a double play and Pedro Alvarez became an inning-ending strikeout victim.
There was no escape for Locke in the bottom of that inning. Carlos Beltran, who’d led off with the fourth walk issued by Locke, stopped at third on Yadier Molina’s double and scored on David Freese’s sacrifice fly. Molina later advanced to third on a wild pitch that proved critical — without it, he does not score as Pete Kozma beats out a grounder down the third-base line, on which Alvarez made a fabulous stop and throw, for an infield single.
Next inning, Locke again had to deal with a men-on-second-and-third, none-out situation. He hit leadoff man Matt Carpenter, who motored to third when shortstop Clint Barmes, after a nice backhand pickup of Shane Robinson’s grounder into the hole, threw the ball into right field for a two-base error. Matt Holliday’s infield grounder cashed in the unearned run for a 3-0 lead.
Freese greeted reliever Jeanmar Gomez with a leadoff homer in the sixth to make it 4-0.
