The Cardinals drummed the Pittsburgh Pirates for 11 runs by the end of the fourth inning and soared to a 17-4 victory Thursday at Busch Stadium. A chorus of 16 hits, six doubles, and eight walks gave the Cardinals their most runs scored of the season and the most scored without a single home run in more than a decade.
To blast a weeklong dirge littered with errors and shutouts, the Cardinals didn’t need big pop stars, just the classics. They sent nine batters to plate in the second inning against Bucs starter Joe Musgrove, 10 more in the fourth, and nine again in the sixth.