PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jon Jay already had a bat in hand before St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny even called his name.

A minute later the veteran outfielder was standing on second base after his pinch hit tied the game. Jay didn’t stay there long, racing home with the go-ahead run on Matt Holliday’s sharp single in a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

“He just sensed,” Matheny said of Jay’s precocious grab of the bat. “We hadn’t had any interaction at that point. He’s smart, he knows the game.”

And the Cardinals know a thing or two about coming through late. St. Louis scored all three runs off reliever Jared Hughes (6-4) with two outs in the seventh inning to back John Lackey and send the scuffling Pirates to their seventh loss in 10 games.

Lackey (2-1) worked out of trouble early to last seven innings in his second victory for the Cardinals after arriving in a trade from Boston on July 31. He was 11-7 with the Red Sox.

Trevor Rosenthal gave up a leadoff home run in the ninth to Andrew McCutchen but held on to earn his 39th save.

“I think guys know when we have a pitcher like Lackey on the mound, he’s going to keep us in the game,” Matheny said. “We’ve just got to keep fighting and figure out a way to get something going.”

Pedro Alvarez hit his 18th homer in the second off Lackey, but the Pirates managed little after that to fall further behind St. Louis and first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central race.

Pirates starter Francisco Liriano overwhelmed St. Louis for six-plus innings before leaving after Kolten Wong’s infield single led off the seventh. Hughes came on and promptly picked off Wong.

Things didn’t work out so well for the normally dependable right-hander, however, when he went to the plate.

Tony Cruz started the game-changing rally by turning an 0-2 count into a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sharply hit single by Jay. Holliday then gave St. Louis the lead with a grounder past shortstop Jordy Mercer. St. Louis has 209 RBIs this season with two outs, tops in the National League.

“It was just a night where (Hughes) couldn’t get the ball where he wanted to go,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said.

The cushion was more than enough for Lackey, who had little trouble after navigating a choppy second inning. Alvarez hit a long home run to center with one out, and infield hits by Starling Marte and Jordy Mercer followed. The runners moved up on a sacrifice by Liriano, but Josh Harrison’s sharply hit fly to left went right to Holliday.

Lackey settled down following the reprieve, not allowing a runner past first base over his final five innings. He walked one and struck out three to improve to 3-0 against National League teams this season.

“I think Tony and I made some good adjustments after the first time through the lineup,” Lackey said. “The last three innings were as good as I felt.”

— Associated Press —

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A change of scenery has done Jerome Williams well.

Jimmy Rollins homered and Williams tossed eight strong innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

“I’m just happy that I’m actually doing the job that I’ve been doing,” Williams said. “My stuff was there. It’s just I wasn’t using it right. I think I’m using it right now.”

Williams (2-0) continued his fine form with Philadelphia, his third team this season. The right-hander allowed one run on five hits while setting a season high for innings. He was claimed off waivers Aug. 10 from Texas and has a 1.77 ERA since coming to the Phillies after pitching to a 6.71 ERA prior to his arrival in Philadelphia.

Ben Revere had a pair of hits and an RBI for Philadelphia, which took two of three from the Cardinals for consecutive series wins for the first time since April.

Jhonny Peralta and Oscar Taveras had a pair of hits for St. Louis, which lost for just the third time in 11 games.

Justin Masterson (2-2) was lifted after giving up five runs and six hits in three innings. His ERA ballooned to 7.43 ERA in five starts since the Cardinals acquired him from Cleveland on July 30.

“It’s frustrating but I’m trying to stay positive,” Masterson said. “It’s my responsibility to pitch better. It’s a hard thing when you’re not doing it.”

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny stood behind Masterson.

“It was just one of those days,” he said. “We’ll continue to work with him. He’s a worker. He wants to help us do better.”

Chase Utley’s RBI single put Philadelphia in front in the first. The Phillies scored two more in the second on Williams’ bunt and Revere’s single, and Wil Nieves’ RBI single in the third made it 3-0.

Nick Greenwood relieved Masterson and retired 10 straight batters before Revere’s one-out single in the seventh. Rollins followed with a drive over the wall in left. It was the 16th homer for Rollins, who hit just six last season.

St. Louis got its lone run in the fourth on Taveras’ single. But the Cardinals couldn’t get anything else off Williams.

Revere, who began Sunday two points behind Justin Morneau for the NL batting lead, raised his average to .314 with his 26th multihit game since June 26.

— Associated Press —

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Matt Carpenter hit a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals over the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 on Saturday night.

Jhonny Peralta homered for the Cardinals, who have won eight of 10 and closed within a half-game of NL Central-leading Milwaukee.

Ryan Howard homered and Marlon Byrd and Carlos Ruiz each drove in a pair of runs for the Phillies.

Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso drew a leadoff walk in the 12th from Ken Giles (2-1). Descalso went to second on Jon Jay’s sacrifice bunt and moved to third on Peter Bourjos’ infield single. Carpenter then flied out to deep left.

Seth Maness (5-2) pitched two scoreless innings and Trevor Rosenthal earned his 38th save in 43 chances.

The teams combined to use 14 pitchers in a game that took 4 hours, 53 minutes.

The Phillies tied it at 5 in the eighth on Byrd’s two-run single off Pat Neshek, who relieved Randy Choate after the bases were loaded with no outs.

Cardinals starter Shelby Miller was in line for the win after going six innings and allowing three runs and five hits.

A pair of Phillies errors helped the Cardinals break a 2-all tie and go in front in the sixth with three runs off reliever Mario Hollands.

After A.J. Pierzynski led off with a double, Oscar Taveras hit a sinking liner to left. Domonic Brown appeared to pull up on a catchable ball and Pierzynski took off for third when Brown hesitated to throw back to the infield. Brown then threw the ball away, allowing Pierzynski to score.

David Buchanan got his first no-decision in his 14th start, giving up two runs and eight hits in five innings. The right-hander is filling in for Cliff Lee, who is out for the season with an elbow injury.

— Associated Press —

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — After the first inning, the results for Kyle Kendrick are completely different.

Ryan Howard drove in a pair of runs and Kendrick overcame a rocky opening inning to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Ben Revere, who entered the day second in the NL in batting, went 3 for 4 to raise his average to .315. Chase Utley and Marlon Byrd also drove in runs for Philadelphia, which won its third in four games.

Matt Adams homered and Matt Holliday drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who lost for just the second time in nine games.

Kendrick (6-11) increased his first-inning ERA to 9.69 this season by allowing three early runs. He left after giving up four runs and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.

“It’s not in my head at all; it’s really not,” Kendrick said. “I don’t know. It’s one of those things this year. It will be gone next year I think.”

Adam Wainwright (15-8) failed in his bid to become the first 16-game winner in the big leagues while continuing his August struggles. The right-hander allowed five runs, four earned, and six hits in six innings, dropping to 2/3 with a 6.49 ERA in five starts this month.

“I haven’t been able to make pitches like I want to,” Wainwright said. “I’ve been talking myself blue in the face. Now I just have to go out and pitch.”

Wainwright looked to be in good position to earn the victory after the first inning.

It was a continuing theme for Kendrick, but he settled down after his early struggles.

Adams’ leadoff homer in the third was the right-hander’s only other blemish, and he finished by retiring his final eight batters. Kendrick has a 4.01 ERA in all innings other than the first this season.

“You just have to battle,” Kendrick said. “I’m a competitor. I don’t want to lose, so I just had to keep battling. That’s all you can do. Keep making pitches, keep grinding and try to keep your team in the game.”

Jonathan Papelbon capped 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief by the Phillies’ bullpen with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 31st save in 33 opportunities.

Philadelphia took the lead with four runs in the third thanks to some help from the Cardinals.

Carlos Ruiz singled and Howard got a late stop sign from coach Pete Mackanin after rounding third base. Adams caught Jon Jay’s relay throw from center and appeared to have an easy out, but he threw wildly to third and Howard scored on the error.

The Phillies, who batted around in the inning, scored their first three runs on RBIs by Utley, Howard and Byrd.

Holliday’s two-run double and Jay’s sacrifice fly staked St. Louis to a 3-0 lead. Jay went 0 for 3, ending his 12-game hitting streak.

Holliday nearly tied it in the eighth, but Byrd leaped high against the fence to catch the drive to right.

— Associated Press —

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Facing Johnny Cueto definitely brought out the best in the Cardinals’ Lance Lynn.

“It didn’t hurt my feelings one bit beating him,” the right-hander said after working seven scoreless innings against the 15-game winner in St. Louis’ 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday night.

“You see all the leader boards and you see his name up at the top. I outpitched him tonight, so yeah.”

Lynn beat Cincinnati for the third straight time and Jhonny Peralta hit a bases-clearing double for St. Louis.

Manager Mike Matheny said he’d anticipated seeing “how Lance bows his neck” against Cueto. “It’s a great opportunity to show what you can do,” the manager added.

Cueto (15-7) was off-kilter from the get-go and missed a chance to become the majors’ first 16-game winner. He allowed five runs in five-plus innings, and his seven-game winning streak ended.

“He just labored,” manager Bryan Price said. “We’ve come to expect him to be great every time and today just wasn’t one of those times.”

The Cardinals have won eight of nine and swept the Reds at home for the first time since Sept. 26-28, 2008. Cincinnati has lost 10 of 12, with Cueto getting the two wins.

Jon Jay had three hits, scored twice and was plunked by a pitch for the sixth time in six games for St. Louis. He is batting .514 (18 for 35) during a 12-game hitting streak, and has been hit by a pitch a majors-leading 16 times.

Lynn (14-8) gave up four singles and was set to pitch the eighth leading 5-0 before a 58-minute rain delay ended his outing.

“You always want to keep going,” Lynn said. “For it to be ended by rain, that’s never a great feeling. But we won the game, that’s all that matters.”

The Reds scored three times in the ninth, and Trevor Rosenthal got two outs for his 37th save in 42 chances.

Brandon Phillips got his first hit of the series, a single in the Reds seventh for the 1,500th of his career. Reds pinch hitters were 3 for 4 in a three-run ninth, including an RBI infield hit by Kris Negron.

Cueto had numerous mound conferences with catcher Bryan Pena and was pulled after walking Lynn on four pitches to load the bases with none out in the sixth. It wasn’t particularly hot, 86 degrees for the first pitch, but the right-hander said humidity took a toll.

“I’m used to pitching with long sleeves and it was so wet and my hand was getting really slippery,” Cueto said through a translator. “I could not grip the ball the way I wanted.”

The weather didn’t seem to bother Lynn.

“They were sweating, they both were,” Matheny said of the starting pitchers. “But he just never looked like he was gassed at all.”

Cueto had been 7-0 with a 2.24 ERA in his previous eight starts, including 3-0 this month. But matched his shortest outing of the year and season high with four walks, plus hit two batters.

Jay singled and scored on Matt Holliday’s double in the third. Jay reached on a two-out infield hit in the fifth, leading to Peralta’s three-run double.

— Associated Press —