By Shelly Anderson, The Sports Xchange
PITTSBURGH — Matt Holliday and Randal Grichuk hit home runs Sunday in an 8-3 St. Louis Cardinals’ win for a sweep of a weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have lost five straight.
Holliday went 3-for-4 with two RBIs before leaving in the seventh for a pinch runner. The Cardinals pounded out 14 hits, with eight starters getting at least one and six players driving in at least one run.
The sweep was the first for the Cardinals (35-28) at PNC Park since August 2009. They finished a two-series road trip 5-1 and are a season-high seven games over .500.
The five-game losing streak is the longest of the season for the Pirates (32-31), dropping them to just a game over .500.
Mike Leake (5-4), who gave up a season-high 10 hits in a no-decision in his previous start, pitched to the minimum number of Pittsburgh batters through three innings and gave up three runs, two of them earned, on six hits through seven innings. He struck out six and walked none.
Jonathan Niese (6-3), who was 3-0 over his previous five starts, gave up eight runs on 11 hits, including both homers, over 5 1/3 innings.
Holliday, who had a three-run homer Saturday, cracked a solo homer to right field in the first for a 1-0 St. Louis lead. The Cardinals pushed the lead to 4-0 in the third on Holliday’s two-RBI single, Stephen Piscotty’s RBI double and Jhonny Peralta’s RBI groundout.
Pittsburgh cut the deficit to 4-2 in the fourth when David Freese and Starling Marte hit back-to-back RBI singles.
St. Louis chased Niese in the sixth when it scored four times for an 8-2 edge before there was an out. Yadier Molina drove in two with a single, Brandon Moss drove in another with a single and Grichuk hit a solo homer, his eighth, to left.
The Pirates added a run in the seventh on Jordy Mercer’s groundout RBI to make it 8-3.
NOTES: As of Sunday afternoon, Pittsburgh still had no conclusive medical update on RHP Gerrit Cole, who left Friday’s game because of right triceps tightness. … C Eric Kratz started for the Pirates, but C Chris Stewart was available off the bench. Stewart (left ankle) left Saturday’s game. … Pittsburgh 3B Jung Ho Kang was given the day off from the starting lineup. … For the second game in a row, Cardinals 3B Matt Carpenter was not in the starting lineup. … Both teams are off Monday. For the Pirates, it’s the first day since May 13 they have not had a game (or two) scheduled. … The game was the first of three Sunday ESPN appearances for Pittsburgh. … St. Louis plays 12 of its final 15 June games against American League clubs. … The Pirates held a moment of silence and flew their flags at half-staff in honor of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, that occurred early Sunday morning.