PITTSBURGH -- Mark Mulder's performance Thursday was
anything but picturesque. But at this point, he'll take a win
however he can get it.
Mulder survived a shaky outing to win for the first time in
nearly a month as the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 6-5
triumph in the rubber game of their three-game series with the
Pittsburgh Pirates.
A former 20-game winner with the Oakland Athletics, Mulder (6-4)
has struggled in his second season with the Cardinals. The
lefthander entered Thursday's contest with a personal three-game
losing streak and a 5.20 ERA.
But after surrendering a leadoff homer to Jose Bautista and a
two-out RBIs single to Craig Wilson in the opening frame, Mulder
settled down to notch his first win since May 17. The
lefthander allowed four runs, nine hits and two walks with six
strikeouts in five innings.
"It wasn't the prettiest thing out there," Mulder said. "But we
scored some runs and came up with some big hits, got the lead
and the bullpen held it for us."
"Overall, he made a lot of good pitches to limit the damage
early," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said of his starter. "I
think he took another step forward. He threw a couple balls
they took deep, but he continued to make adjustments. I think
it's a big step forward, something he can build on."
Rookie righthander Adam Wainwright yielded one run in two
innings, Braden Looper logged a scoreless eighth and Jason
Isringhausen worked the ninth for his 22nd save.
"It's good to see Mark get a win and our team get a win," said
Isringhausen, who induced Pittsburgh slugger Jason Bay to ground
into a game-ending double play. "It's a good way to end a
trip."
Rookie Chris Duncan had a career-high three hits, including his
first career triple, and So Taguchi added two hits and two RBIs
for the Cardinals, who concluded a 4-2 road trip.
"We swung the bat well and we ended up getting six runs, and
that's usually enough to win the game," Duncan said. "It turned
out well."
After squandering a pair of one-run leads over the first four
innings, St. Louis took the lead for good in the fifth. Duncan
forged a 4-4 tie with an RBIs double, and Gary Bennett followed
with an RBIs groundout to give the Cardinals a 5-4 advantage.
The Cardinals tacked on a run in the sixth on Scott Rolen's RBIs
single, but the Pirates cut their deficit to 6-5 in the bottom
of the frame on Jeromy Burnitz's solo pinch homer.
It was Burnitz's third pinch homer of the season - the most by a
Pirates player since Wilson hit a club-record seven in 2001.
"It was one of those games where we couldn't add any runs and we
had to get 12 outs," La Russa said. "Pittsburgh's dangerous,
but we made some defensive plays. It was a tough ballgame."
Pittsburgh had a golden opportunity to at least to tie the game
in the seventh when Wainwright issued a pair of two-out walks to
load the bases. But Jose Castillo popped out to right field to
end the threat.
"Sure it's frustrating," said Pirates interim manager Jim Lett,
who filled in while manager Jim Tracy attended his son's
high-school graduation in California. "But their pitchers made
good pitches on us."
Pirates starter Victor Santos (4-7) struggled, allowing five
runs, seven hits and four walks in 4 1/3 frames.