PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lance Lynn grew up hitting from both sides of the plate, a notion the St. Louis Cardinals pitcher abandoned when he reached college at Ole Miss. Better to just hit right-handed and protect his right (throwing) elbow than expose it by trying to step in as a lefty.

Until now anyway.

Frustrated by a swing by his own admission he called “awful,” Lynn flipped to the left side in secret a few weeks ago, hiding his progress from manager Mike Matheny until he felt comfortable enough to broach the subject earlier this month. Saturday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the fruits of his work were on full display. Lynn raked a run-scoring double to spark a two-out rally in the fifth as the Cardinals pulled away for a 4-0 victory.

Sure, Lynn (8-6) kept the Pirates off balance for 6 1/3 innings to win his second straight start. What he’ll remember is his first extra-base hit as a left-handed batter since high school. He stepped into the box in the fifth against Jameson Taillon with Luke Voit on first and two outs in a one-run game before sending a ball to the gap in left-center, with Voit coming around to score when Pittsburgh centerfielder Andrew McCutchen overran the ball.

“My best swing yet,” Lynn said with more than hint of a smile after boosting his batting average to .091.

Matt Carpenter sent Lynn chugging home with an RBI single and Tommy Pham drove in Carpenter with a double to left field as St. Louis ended Pittsburgh’s three-game winning streak.

“I know when pitchers get hits off me, it (ticks) me off,” Lynn said. “Today it kind of worked in our favor.”

Pham finished with three hits for his third straight multi-hit game. Carpenter went 2 for 4 with an RBI and Lynn did the rest. While he allowed eight hits, only one went for extra bases and he used his sinker to get the Pirates to hit into double plays in both the second and the fourth.

“He’s in a good place, he’s throwing the ball well,” Matheny said. “He’s got the movement he’s looking for.”

Taillon (5-3) lost for the first time in nearly a month. The Cardinals pecked away at Taillon for four runs in five innings. Taillon struck out five but tied a season high by allowing eight hits.

“The pitcher, if he just pops that one up or I make a better pitch . I’m moving on and I might go seven, give up one run and it might be a completely different game,” Taillon said.

Francisco Cervelli went 2 for 4 with a double for Pirates. Pittsburgh left nine runners on base and went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

“We’ve seen (Lynn), he’s seen us,” Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said “There’s no secrets. He got us tonight. We got him the last time. We’ll see what happens the next time.”

The Cardinals and Pirates are both trying to find something resembling traction in hopes of remaining within striking distance of Milwaukee in the middling NL Central. Pittsburgh began the second-half with a boost when rookie Josh Bell hit a walkoff three-run homer on Friday night.

The momentum came to a halt against Lynn. Though he retired the Pirates in order just once he kept Pittsburgh in check until the seventh, when he was pulled with one out after giving up consecutive hits to Cervelli and Jordy Mercer.

Reliever Matt Bowman walked Adam Frazier with two outs to load the bases but Pirates All-Star second baseman Josh Harrison — mired in a slump — flied out to left to end the threat. Harrison is hitting just .119 this month after going 0 for 4.

MONITORING MARTE

The Pirates plan to throw OF Starling Marte right back into the fire when he returns from his 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Marte is eligible to return on Tuesday against Milwaukee. He is currently in Triple-A Indianapolis and entered Saturday hitting .270 with one home run and three RBI in 10 starts for Indianapolis and Class-A Bradenton.

“If he has a spark right away, maybe we can ride it,” Hurdle said. “If he’s challenged for a few games, we might need to back away. We’re going to assess as we go, day by day.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Placed OF Stephen Piscotty on the 10-day DL with a strained right groin and called up OF Magneuris Sierra from Double-A Springfield. The 21-year-old Sierra hit .375 in eight games with the Cardinals earlier this season.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Carlos Martinez (6-8, 3.40 ERA), coming off two scoreless innings for the National League in the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, makes his 19th start of the season in the series finale on Sunday.

Pirates: Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.80 ERA) will make his first career start against the Cardinals.

— Associated Press —

PITTSBURGH (AP) — With the winning run on second base as he stepped into the batter’s box in the bottom of the ninth, Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Josh Bell could feel his heart racing.

The rookie tried to get his breathing under control but couldn’t. Adrenaline won out. The Pirates, too.

Bell sent a 1-2 pitch from St. Louis Cardinals closer Seung Hwan into the seats in left field to give Pittsburgh a dramatic 5-2 victory Friday night. Bell’s 17th home run of the season was also his first walk-off hit in the majors, a show of power that gave the Pirates their sixth win in seven games as they try to climb into the thick of the underwhelming race in the NL Central.

“It was cool,” Bell said. “The lights go off and come back on, you’re rounding third and you see all your teammates at home. I haven’t had that feeling since Double-A, and the stadium here is a little louder than that.”

Adam Frazier led off the inning with a double and Oh intentionally walked Andrew McCutchen with one out. Bell missed badly at the first offering from Oh (1-5) and then took a ball and a called strike before putting the ball into the seats over the outstretched arm of Cardinals left fielder Tommy Pham.

“It was too high. It was a missed pitch,” Oh said.

Bell finished 2 for 3 with four RBI. Frazier added three hits for Pittsburgh, and Gregory Polanco had two hits and an RBI.

Felipe Rivero (4-2) retired the Cardinals on seven pitches in the top of the ninth.

“That game was a bit of a roller coaster,” Bell said. “Setting the standard the first game of this series and the first game of this homestand was big.”

Jedd Gyorko hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Cardinals, but St. Louis was limited to just four hits the rest of the way against Gerrit Cole and three relievers.

“I thought we did a good job of staying in the ballgame, playing tough and Josh coming up big after putting Andrew on,” Cole said.

Both teams sent their de facto aces out to start the second half of the season in search of some early traction as they try to chase down first-place Milwaukee the wide-open NL Central.

Cole put together a wildly inconsistent first half that mirrored the fortunes of his scuffling team. He came in allowing one run three times in his last seven starts, the same number of times he’s allowed seven runs over the same span.

It looked as though it could be another bumpy outing in the first when Gyorko sent a 3-2 slider into the seats in right-center field to give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead. Cole settled down immediately, allowing just two more baserunners over six innings of work, striking out four without issuing a walk.

Mike Leake wasn’t quite as crisp. He retired the Pirates in order just once in five innings, allowing an RBI single to Bell in the fourth and another to Polanco in the fifth that tied the game, capping a two-out rally created by a rare bout of wildness from Leake, who walked the bases full. He struck out Francisco Cervelli to keep the game even.

Leake left after five, giving up two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and five walks, his highest total since May 22, 2015, while pitching for Cincinnati. Leake hinted plate umpire Jerry Layne’s strike zone was part of the problem.

“It wasn’t consistent,” Leake said. “If you have a consistent zone, it’s all right.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: Placed OF Randal Grichuk (lower back strain) on the 10-day disabled list and recalled OF Jose Martinez from Triple-A Memphis. Martinez hit .280 with five home runs and 17 RBI in 50 games with St. Louis this season. … St. Louis also activated reliever Kevin Siegrist (cervical spine sprain) off the disabled list. … RF Stephen Piscotty left in the bottom of the ninth after straining his right groin while making a throw from the outfield. He was replaced by Martinez.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (7-6, 3.61 ERA) is coming off seven shutout innings in a victory over the New York Mets last weekend. Lynn is 6-6 with a 4.76 ERA against the Pirates.

Pirates: RHP Jameson Taillon (5-2, 2.73) will make his third career start against the Cardinals on Saturday. Taillon is 3-1 with a 1.98 ERA since returning from treatment for testicular cancer. He was scratched from his scheduled start last Sunday against the Cubs after getting food poisoning.

— Associated Press —