Pirates vs. Cardinals, 2013 NLDS Game 1 results: St. Louis blows out Bucs, 9-1

Adam Wainwright and company shut down the Bucs in St. Louis Thursday afternoon.

by Nate A

Oct 4, 2013, 12:14 AM UTC

Dilip Vishwanat

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NLDS 2013: Cardinals beat Pirates in 5 games, advance to NLCS

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The St. Louis Cardinals routed the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-1, Thursday afternoon to take the first game of their five-game division series.

The game looked like it might be headed into pitchers’ duel territory through the first two innings, but Bucs starter A.J. Burnett had other plans. The veteran right-hander failed to get an out in the third, slogging his way through eight batters and eventually leaving the game down 7-0.

Carlos Beltran got the scoring party started for the Cards, mashing a three-run home run into the right field seats:

A bases-loaded walk four batters later gave St. Louis a 4-0 lead, then third baseman David Freese put the finishing touches on Burnett's outing with a three-run single down the right-field line. With his less-than-stellar outing, Burnett became the 10th starter in postseason history to last just of 2+ innings and allow at least seven runs.

The Pirates managed to get on the board in the fifth with a home run from third baseman Pedro Alvarez, but that was all they could wrangle off Adam Wainwright, who was magnificent in his seven innings of work. Waino allowed just three hits and struck out nine on the day, and all 11 of his non-K outs came via the ground ball.

St. Louis added an insurance run in each of the fifth and sixth innings thanks to defensive miscues by the Pirates. The former came in on a throwing error from shortstop Clint Barmes while attempting to turn a double play, and the latter came on a series of bobbles from center fielder Andrew McCutchen on a Yadier Molina double -- the misplay allowed the big-bodied Matt Adams to score all the way from first.

Rookie right-hander Carlos Martinez took over for Wainwright in the eighth, and immediately made a fancy play on a slow roller. After his scoreless frame, another in St. Louis’ fleet of young flame-throwing pitchers, Trevor Rosenthal, put down the Bucs in the ninth.