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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
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BASEBALL
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Pirates shutout Cardinals 5-0
Pittsburgh Pirates' Pedro Alvarez, left, rounds the bases past St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Dare Freese (23) after hitting a two-run homer in the third inning of the baseball game on Tuesday, in Pittsburgh.
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PITTSBURGH — Pedro Alvarez stayed hot, blasting his 26th homer of the season and driving in three runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates rolled to a 5-0 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night.
The third baseman — who hit two homers on Tuesday — continued his season-long dominance of the Cardinals. His three-run shot in the third gave him seven home runs and 23 RBI in 15 games against St. Louis this year as Pittsburgh moved within one game of the NL's second wild card spot.
Wandy Rodriguez (9-13) worked six tidy innings for Pittsburgh to pick up his first victory as a starter since being acquired in a trade last month. Rodriguez walked three and struck out three while helping the Pirates shut out the Cardinals for the second straight night.
If the two clubs are tied for the second wild card spot at the end of the regular season, the Pirates would have host the play-in game.
Joe Kelly (4-6) battled control problems during five rocky innings, giving up five runs on eight hits.
The victory helped the Pirates take the season series from St. Louis 8-7, not an insignificant number with both teams battling for a postseason berth.
PAGE 9B
There's still a long way to go before the first week of October, particularly for Pittsburgh. Still, the Pirates will head into September still in the mix, something they haven't done in 20 years.
The former first-round pick has finally developed into the lineup-anchoring power hitter the team envisioned when it drafted him four years ago. He's certainly feasted on St. Louis pitching this season, going 23-
Pittsburgh appeared to be teering on the edge of collapse following a 4-3 loss on Monday that dropped the Pirates three games back. They responded with a pair of convincing wins being the streaky Alvarez.
He gave Rodriguez all the offense necessary in the third. Coming to the plate with two on and two out, Alvarez drilled an 82 mph curveball from Kelly into the right field seats. The ball left the park so quickly Alvarez barely had time to break into his home run trot before it landed.
for-58 (.396).
The blast gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead and Alvarez made it 5-0 in the fifth when he doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Josh Harrison.
Rodriguez took advantage of
the cushion. He came in 0-4 as a starter with the Pirates after being acquired from Houston on July 24. His only victory came in two relief injuries during Pittsburgh's 19-inning victory in St. Louis on Aug. 19.
Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle blamed part of Rodriguez's problems on the pressure of trying to validate the trade. Hurdle urged the veteran lefthander to relax, and Rodriguez looked at ease playing with a sizable lead for the first time as a Pirate.
BASEBALL
Rays over Rangers
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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Evan Longoria homered twice, Tampa Bay roughed up Matt Harrison and the Rays beat the Texas Rangers 8-4 Wednesday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
After dropping the last two against the AL-West leading Rangers by one run, the Rays avoided the three-game sweep.
Harrison (15-8) allowed seven runs and 12 hits in 5 1-3 innings. He took a no-hitter into the seventh and permitted two hits in eight shutout innings in his last outing Friday night against Minnesota.
Tampa Bay had scored only 11 runs during their losing skid before breaking out for 16 hits against Texas.
Longoria hit a two-run homer in the first and a solo shot in the ninth. B.J. Upton had a three-run home run and Elliot Johnson added a solo blast.
jeff Keppinger went 4 for 5 and Ben Zobrist had three hits for the Rays.
Jake McGee (5-2) pitched a perfect sixth and five Tampa Bay relievers combined for 4 1-3 scoreless innings.
Josh Hamilton hit his 36th home run for Texas, a solo shot that brought Texas within 6-4 in the fifth.
The Rangers wrapped up a 10-game homestand with a 7-3 record.
Harrison gave up seven runs and a career-high 14 hits in an 8-4 loss to the Rays on April 27.
Zobrist's RBI double in the first snapped a 13-inning scoreless drought.
Longoria drove a 3-1 fastball from Harrison 409 feet to center. The two-run shot extended Tampa Bay's lead to 3-0. Longoria is 6 for 9 with three home runs against Harrison in the regular season.
In the second inning, Sam Fuld tripled with one out and Desmond Jennings walked to set the stage for Upton.
After Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux visited Harrison. Upton lined a fastball into the seats in left for his 16th home run of the season.
Johnson led off the sixth with a home run and Harrison was chased out of the game two batters later.
It was the first time Harrison allowed three home runs in a game since April 21, 2010 against Boston.
BASEBALL
Texas' Mitch Moreland hit a two-run homer in the second, his 15th of the season. Nelson Cruz's RBI groundout got the Rangers to within 6-3.
Hamilton's 424-foot shot landed in the upper deck in right and gave him 112 RBIs, which leads the maiors.
Rays starter Alex Cobb allowed eight hits and four runs in 4 2-3 innings.
Brewers edge out Cubs
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CHICAGO — Mike Fiers tossed 7-1-3 solid innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-1 win over the Cubs on Wednesday night, their eighth straight victory against Chicago.
Fiers (8-6) held the Cubs to four hits and struck out six, helping Milwaukee beat its division rival for the 13th time in 16 games this season. The Brewers have won eight of their last nine overall and moved within five games of .500 for the first time since July 21.
Fiers sent down 14 straight batters at one point and won his second straight start, but Milwaukee's streak of eight straight games with at least 10 strikeouts came to an end. It was the longest such streak since 1900.
John Axford finished up for his 22nd save in 30 chances.
Jeff Samardzija (8-12) gave up seven hits and three runs — two earned — in seven innings for the Cubs. He struck out 10 for his third double-digit strikeout game of the season.
Jean Segura stroked a go-ahead single in the seventh and scored an insurance run when Chicago committed two errors after Segura's steal of second base.
Norichika Aoki and Ryan Braun had two hits apiece for Milwaukee.
Bryan LaHair singled and scored on Darwin Barney's fielder's choice in the second for the Cubs' only run. Chicago has dropped 22 of 28 and has scored two runs or less 11 times in August.
Samardzija has received two runs or fewer of support while on the mound in nine of his last 10 starts, but has lasted at least seven innings in eight of those outings.
The bumbling Cubs fell to 31 games under .500, their worst mark since Sept. 30, 2006, and looked the part during Milwaukee's two-run rally in the seventh that was aided by three errors.
Nyjer Morgan reached on a bunt single and went to second when Samardzija's throw sailed up the right field line. He went to third when Samardzija uncorked a wild pitch, and scored on Segura's solid single to left.
Segura stole second and dashed for third when Wellington Castillo's throw bounced past Starlin Castro. Barney backed up the play and threw to third, but Luis Valbuena missed the ball, allowing Segura to score.
Barney was initially charged
with the second error on the play, but after the inning the official scorer gave the miscue to Valbuena.
That allowed Barney to extend his streak of consecutive errorless games at second base to 114 games, breaking the National League record of 113 games set by San Diego's David Eckstein in 2010. The major league record is 141 games, established by Detroit's Placido Polanco in 2007.
NOTES: The Cubs named Brandon Hyde the club's director of player development, promoting him from his role as minor league field coordinator. Hyde, 38, joined the Cubs during the offseason after spending nine years in the Marlins organization. He will assume the duties of former vice president of player development Oneri Fleita, who was fired on Aug. 15. ... Former Cubs reliever Scott Maine was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday. Maine was designated for assignment by the Cubs on Monday. ... LaHair entered the game hitting just .164 (12 for 73) since making the NL All-Star team for the first time. LaHair had a streak of reaching base 32 straight games from April 8 to May 15 earlier this season.
Milwaukee Brewers starter Mike Fiers throws against the Chicago Cubs during the first inning of a baseball game in Chicago.
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