Pittsburgh, PA - Braden Looper pitched seven shutout innings to earn his first win as a starter and Preston Wilson drove in two runs with a pinch-hit double, as the St. Louis Cardinals spoiled Pittsburgh's home opener with a 3-0 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park.
Scott Rolen singled in a run and Albert Pujols scored twice for the Cardinals, who have won three of their last four after being swept in three games by the New York Mets to start the season. St. Louis won two of three in Houston over the weekend.
Looper (1-1), in only his second big league start after eight years of relief work, was brilliant. He limited the Pirates to a pair of hits with three walks and three strikeouts while throwing only 94 pitches.
'It's a good feeling to be sitting on the bench after throwing seven strong innings,' said Looper. 'That was a big hit by Preston to give us those insurance runs. The guys today were just awesome.'
Ian Snell (0-1) was the tough-luck loser for Pittsburgh. He gave up just one run on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts in seven strong innings.
Chris Duffy had a double and a walk in defeat, as the Pirates fell to 2-5 in openers at PNC Park. Pittsburgh was coming off a successful first week on the road, sweeping Houston before salvaging the finale of a three-game set in Cincinnati over the weekend.
The Pirates were blanked in a home opener for the first time since 1991 against Montreal.
'The approach is the most important thing... that there's consistency with the approach to our games,' said Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy. 'We've played seven games now and we've been in a position to win all but one of them. That's what you're interested in.'
St. Louis was clinging to a 1-0 lead through seven innings, but tacked on two in the eighth against the Pittsburgh bullpen. David Eckstein led off with a base hit against John Wasdin and took second on a passed ball before Pujols was walked intentionally with one out. Rolen then popped up to shallow left field, but Wilson greeted Damaso Marte with a drive off the wall in center field for a two-run double.
Ryan Franklin kept the Pirates off the board in the bottom of the eighth and Jason Isringhausen worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save to complete the three-hitter.
The Cardinals managed only a pair of harmless singles through the first three innings against Snell, then reached the Pirate starter for a run in the fourth when Pujols led off with a double and scored on a single by Rolen.
Pittsburgh got only a walk and a double from Duffy before threatening in the home fourth. Adam LaRoche walked with one out and Jason Bay followed with a single, but Xavier Nady grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Snell snuffed out a Cardinal threat in the fifth when he got Pujols to ground into a force at third with two on and two out, then got help in the sixth when Jim Edmonds doubled with one out but was caught trying to steal third.
Looper set down the Pirates in order in the sixth, then hit Nady with a pitch in the seventh before inducing a double-play grounder off the bat of Ronny Paulino to finish his day.
Game Notes
Pittsburgh fell to 70-51 in 121 all-time home openers...The Pirates opened their home schedule against the Cardinals for the first time since 1987 and for the 31st time since 1887, the most of any opponent. Pittsburgh fell to 14-17 against the Cardinals in home openers...Duffy has hit safely in each of his six starts...The Cardinals scratched pitcher Chris Carpenter from his scheduled Tuesday start because of inflammation in his right elbow. He hasn't pitched since the season-opener on April 1 against the Mets. Randy Keisler is expected to be recalled from Triple-A Memphis to make the start.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes
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