ST. LOUIS (AP) — Nobody’s better than the St. Louis Cardinals when they can’t afford to lose.
Adam Wainwright went all the way on the mound and St. Louis got two-run homers from David Freese and Matt Adams to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 Wednesday night, advancing to the NL championship series for the third straight season.
Wainwright scattered eight hits in his second dominant win of the division series, coming through for the Cardinals in a winner-take-all Game 5. St. Louis gets to stay at home to open the NLCS against the well-rested Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
“I wanted it bad. It’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been,” Wainwright said. “I don’t get a whole lot of nerves when I pitch. Before I pitched today, I was pretty nervous.”
By ending Pittsburgh’s storybook season, the Cardinals improved to 8-1 when facing postseason elimination the past three years. They also won Game 5 of the NL division series in Washington last year — even though Wainwright got rocked — and at Philadelphia in 2011.
Freese homered in the second inning off rookie Gerrit Cole, and Adams connected in the eighth against reliever Mark Melancon to make it 5-1. Pete Kozma added an RBI infield single, and Wainwright finished it off by striking out Pedro Alvarez with two on.
The Pirates ended a record streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons this year, but they were held to one run in each of their final two games.