The Original Game » those in the first five minutes.UP NEXTNets:

PITTSBURGH -- Adam Wainwright is still in search of his best stuff. Matt Betts Jersey . His bat made sure his best wasnt necessary.The St. Louis ace drove in three runs and survived five occasionally bumpy innings to pick up his first victory since mid-July as the Cardinals drummed the staggering Pittsburgh Pirates 12-6 on Monday.Wainwright hit an RBI-double off Chad Kuhl (3-3) in the second and added a two-run single in the fourth as the Cardinals held on to the second wild card spot in the National League by sending the Pirates to their seventh straight loss.We needed that win, Wainwright said. We need every win that we can get coming down the stretch. Any part that I can play in that is a treat for me, a privilege.Wainwright (10-8) allowed four runs and struck out five as his ERA rose to 4.61 while picking up his first victory since July 16. He hardly needed to be sharp as the Cardinals battered Pittsburghs beleaguered pitching staff. Jedd Gyorko and Matt Adams homered for St. Louis to extend the teams streak of games with at least one home run to a club-record 24.Andrew McCutchen and Adam Frazier hit home runs for the Pirates, who have been outscored 47-22 during their current slide. A week ago Pittsburgh was well within striking distance of the Cardinals for a playoff spot but have fallen 4 1/2 games behind St. Louis and dropped below .500 (67-68) for the first time since July 2.Were trying to figure ourselves out and get out of this and get back to playing baseball the way we want to play, shortstop Jordy Mercer said. We just have to keep going.St. Louis pounded out 14 hits -- eight for extra bases -- against five pitchers and wasted little time getting to Kuhl, who has been steady if not spectacular since joining the rotation full-time a month ago.Wainwrights double to the wall in center field put the Cardinals in front and Stephen Piscottys two-run double later in the inning gave Wainwright an early cushion, one he flirted with giving away. Pittsburgh touched him for two runs in the bottom of the inning but Wainwright avoided major damage.I hate giving up runs after we score, Wainwright said. Thats driving me crazy. But what we did do well there is we held them to two. We could have let that inning get away from us, and we didnt.Jeff Locke came on relief of Kuhl in the third and the Cardinals quickly went to work. Kolten Wongs RBI single against him made it 4-2 and Gyorko opened the fourth with a long home run down the left-field line for his 26th of the year.Wainwrights bloop to left later in the inning pushed St. Louis lead to six runs and allowed Wainwright to leave after five innings in which he needed 93 pitches to get 15 outs.He was at 93 pitches, and were in September, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. The first two (innings) were stressful. To me, weve got a lead that we think our bullpen can hold. I guess your greatest argument (for leaving him in) is you want to see him hit again.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: Piscotty left in the fifth inning after being hit in the wrist with a pitch though Matheny said X-rays were negative. ... RHP Mike Leake will return after a bout with the shingles when he starts on Wednesday. ... C Brayan Pena is finally healthy after battling injuries much of the season but the team will not use him to catch a full game.Pirates: C Francisco Cervelli was taken out of the game after the fourth inning with discomfort in his left thumb. ... C Elias Diaz is being evaluated for cellulitis in his left leg and will be re-evaluated on Thursday.UP NEXTCardinals: Rookie Luke Weaver makes his fourth major league start on Tuesday. Weaver is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA and gave up three runs over six innings in his last start against Milwaukee.Pirates: Veteran Ryan Vogelsong (3-4, 3.56 ERA) will make his ninth start of the season and seventh since returning from the DL on Aug. 4 after missing more than two months while recovering from facial fractures sustained when he was hit by a pitch on May 23. Vogelsong is 3-7 with a 5.75 ERA in 22 appearances against the Cardinals. Marvin Hall Jersey . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Buy Cheap Bears Jerseys . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. http://www.cheapbearsjerseyschina.com/pr...ukamara-jersey/ . Halifax beat the Saint John Sea Dogs 7-5 on the strength of two goals apiece from Nikolaj Ehlers, Matt Murphy and Brent Andrews. Jonathan Drouin also scored and had three assists while Zachary Fucale made 17 saves for the Mooseheads (16-8-0), who led 6-1 after two periods. PHOENIX -- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had a little extra energy on the court Saturday.The second-year pro learned just before the game that his mother had been flown in to Arizona to watch her son play. She watched from her second-row seat as Hollis-Jefferson scored a career-high 20 points with 13 rebounds in the Brooklyn Nets 122-104 victory over the Phoenix Suns.Just to have her here, that was more special to me than the 20 points, Hollis-Jefferson said. I winked at her about three times.Brooklyn got its first road win of the season, scoring 17 straight points late in the fourth quarter to extinguish the Suns comeback attempt.The Nets held a 102-100 lead with 4:16 to play when their decisive run began. It included Brook Lopezs 3-pointer with 1:47 to go to make it 113-100, and some tight defense on the Suns top scorers.Defense, it gives you that energy, that joy that you want. When you stop someone and you go down and score, its like `Woo! That was fun! Hollis-Jefferson said. We enjoy that whole process, the stop and the score.Trevor Booker added 19 points and eight rebounds, and Sean Kilpatrick had 19 points and nine boards for the Nets. Joe Harris also scored 19 points.T.J. Warren scored 18 points for the Suns. Jared Dudley added 17 off the bench.The Suns fell apart after Devin Bookers short jumper pulled them within two points with a little more than 4 minutes left and lost for the third time in four games.Phoenix shot a season-low 37.4 percent. The Suns 107 shot attempts were the highest in an NBA game this season, regulation or overtime.This is the first team that played the defense the way they played it, Suns coach Earl Watson said. They ... made us play out of the weak side, so they did a great job of taking away the paint, taking away the lane.The Suns took a lot of shots early in possessions.We just locked down defensively, Trevor Booker said. We shut down their transition and made them play half court.Harris two free throws gave Brooklyn its biggest leaad of the first half at 57-41 with 1:08 to go. Chase Daniel Jersey. The Nets finished the half up 58-45 after leading by double digits for the last 5:19.TIP-INSNets: G Jeremy Lin remains out with a strained left hamstring. He watched Saturdays game from the bench and is expected to be re-evaluated this coming week. ... F Isaiah Whitehead missed his second straight game with a concussion and was not with the team Saturday.Suns: C Tyson Chandler remains away from the team due to a family matter and missed his third straight game. ... Rookie Tyler Ulis played 11 minutes, the most action hes seen since getting 18 on Halloween against the Los Angeles Clippers and the third game in which hes played this season.ANOTHER COACH, ANOTHER COMPLIMENTAdd the Nets Kenny Atkinson to the list of NBA coaches who have praised Bookers game. Im impressed with the confidence, the swagger he plays with and the attack mentality, Atkinson said.Booker, the teams leading scorer at 21.5 points per game coming in, made only 5 of 18 shots and finished with 11 points.CHRISS SHOTSSuns rookie Marquese Chriss got his third start and finished with a career-high 16 points. Chriss eclipsed his high of seven shot attempts before halftime, and took 15 in the game.LOUD FAN HEARS ITA vociferous fan sitting a few rows up from the court yelled at Watson to take Booker out of the game after a missed shot in the fourth quarter. The fan had been critical of the Suns all night, and Watson turned to him and calm but audibly said Shut up.BROOK BLOCKSNets center Brook Lopez set the season high for blocks for a Nets player with four, three of those in the first five minutes.UP NEXTNets: At the Clippers on Monday night, their first of two straight games against the Los Angeles teams in the Staples Center.Suns: At Golden State on Sunday night, their third set of back-to-back games of the season. Wholeslae Jerseys NFL Jerseys Cheap Wholesale NBA Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Cheap MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys Cheap Football Jerseys Cheap Basketball Jerseys Cheap Baseball Jerseys ' ' '