ST. LOUIS -- Cardinals manager Mike Matheny is an avid chess player. Managing a baseball game is a lot like chess. Sometimes the moves work. Sometimes they don't.
Matheny pulled out every move he had against Pittsburgh on Thursday night at Busch Stadium, and he finally got his checkmate in a 10-8 victory over the Pirates thanks to a three-run walk-off home run by Yairo Munoz, which capped a five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth.
Matheny implemented three double switches and used 19 players as the Cardinals beat the Pirates for the third consecutive time this season.