PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The Pittsburgh Pirates erased an early deficit, but the Cardinals scored two runs in the ninth to earn a 6-4 win.

Joel Hanrahan came on to pitch the ninth inning, but allowed a one-out single to Daniel Descalso.

Tyler Green came in to pinch run for Descalso and scored the eventual game-winning run on a double by Nick Punto.

Albert Pujols’ sacrifice fly capped the scoring in the game.

The Pirates did not go down without a fight, however.

Josh Harrison and Pedro Alvarez led off the inning with back-to-back singles.

Pedro Ciriaco followed with a ground out and Neil Walker hit into a game-ending double play to drop the Pirates to 67-81.

Jeff Karstens allowed four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out two in only 4 1-3 innings.

His counterpart, Chris Carpenter, allowed four runs on 10 hits while walking one and striking out six in seven inning of work.

Derek Lee hit his 17th home run of the season for the Pirates and Andrew McCutchen went deep for the 23rd time.

The teams will close out their three-game series on Wednesday at 12:35 p.m.

Edwin Jackson (11-9, 3.75 ERA) is scheduled to take on Charlie Morton (9-9, 3.81 ERA).

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