Cardinals rally in 9th for 4-2 win over Pirates

PITTSBURGH — Jose Fermin delivered a go-ahead two-run double with one out in the ninth inning, capping a four-run rally that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.

The Cardinals, who entered the game having lost four straight and five of their previous six, broke through after enduring a dominant pitching performance from the Pirates' bullpen. Pittsburgh pitchers combined for 6 2/3 hitless innings, keeping St. Louis off the bases entirely through that stretch and maintaining a 2-0 lead into the late innings.

Opener Mason Montgomery and Justin Lawrence each worked a scoreless inning to start, followed by Wilber Dotel's four perfect innings with three strikeouts. Evan Sisk entered in the seventh and allowed the Cardinals' first hit, an infield single by Alec Burleson with two outs, before Isaac Mattson, Gregory Soto and Dennis Santana took over. St. Louis remained scoreless through 8 1/3 innings before exploding against Santana, who entered with two saves and a 0.69 ERA.

Pedro Pages, the backup catcher, led off the ninth with his third home run of the season and second in as many games. Rookie JJ Wetherholt followed with his...