ST. LOUIS (AP) – Jaime Garcia pitched seven scoreless innings, Matt Carpenter homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 Saturday afternoon.
Garcia (8-4) struck out a season-high nine, walked one and allowed four hits for his 50th career win. Kevin Siegrist followed with a scoreless eighth before Trevor Rosenthal gave up a two-out run in the ninth.
Carpenter’s 21st homer was a two-run shot in the seventh and put the Cardinals ahead 4-0.
The Cardinals pushed their lead over the Pirates to 6 1/2 games in the NL Central.
Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton (8-7) went six innings and allowed two runs, one earned, and four hits.
A sellout of 45,139 pushed the Cardinals over the 3 million attendance mark for the 10th time in the 10-year history of Busch Stadium and the 19th time in franchise history.
