Willkommen » goal in 63 career NHL games. "Hes one of th

PITTSBURGH -- Neil Walker wasnt expecting to have a big offensive game Friday night, especially with Michael Wacha pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals. The last time Wacha started at PNC Park was in the Game 4 of last years National League Division Series and he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yet the hot-hitting Walker had three hits, including a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning, and drove in four runs to help the Pirates beat the Cardinals 6-4. "Wacha is so good, as we found out last year," said Walker, who has reached base in 22 of his last 40 plate appearances. "He throws hard and youve got to shorten up your swing and put the ball in play. Thats the best way to approach him because youre usually not going to do too much against him." While Walkers first two hits were against Wacha, his seventh homer came off Carlos Martinez (0-2) and rallied the Pirates from a 4-3 deficit for their third straight victory. Jordy Mercer and pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez led off the inning with singles and were bunted up a base by Jose Tabata before Walker hit a drive into the right-field stands. "Martinez is as tough as Wacha, but he hung a slider and I was able to put a good swing on it," Walker said. "I was surprised. The guy has such great stuff that youre not thinking that youre going to hit a home run in that situation. It was huge." Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said it didnt appear that Martinez got the home run pitch "where he wanted it." Mercer had three of the Pirates 12 hits, while Ike Davis, who hit a two-run double in the first inning to open the scoring, and Tabata had two hits apiece. Pittsburgh beat St. Louis for the 10th time in 13 games at home. Mercers performance was a welcome development for the Pirates and their shortstop, who is hitting just .187. "Ive been putting in a lot of time in the batting cage, trying to figure things out and its nice to have some results because I feel confident now when I step in the batters box," Mercer said. "Confidence is such a big part of hitting." St. Louis had gone ahead earlier in the seventh on Jhonny Peraltas solo home run, his eighth. Allen Craigs three-run home run, his fourth, accounted for the Cardinals other runs. Peralta and Craig had two hits apiece in the Cardinals second loss in five games. Justin Wilson (1-0) struck out the only batter he faced, Matt Adams, to end the top of the seventh. Mark Melancon, filling as the closer for injured Jason Grilli, pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save. Both starting pitchers worked five innings and had uneven performances. Pittsburghs Francisco Liriano allowed three runs, five hits and four walks while striking out five, while Wacha gave up three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Liriano has gone a career-long 11 regular-season starts without a win since beating the Texas Rangers last Sept. 10. Wacha is winless in his last five starts. NOTES: The game was delayed 25 minutes in the top of the fourth inning because of rain. . Pirates OF Travis Sniders appeal of his two-game suspension for his actions in an April 20 brawl were upheld and he began serving his penalty Friday night. . The Cardinals recalled OF Joey Butler from Triple-A Memphis and optioned OF Randal Grichuk to the same club. . Pittsburgh recalled INF Brent Morel from Triple-A Indianapolis. They had optioned RHP Phil Irwin to Indianapolis on Thursday. . Grilli threw from the top of the mound Friday for the first time since April 21 when the closer went on the disabled list with a strained left oblique. . Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (4-1, 3.51) will start Saturday night against RHP Edinson Volquez (1-3, 4.19). Wholesale Sneakers Free Shipping . First-half goals by Will Bruin and Oscar Boniek Garcia sucked the life out of the Impact as the Houston Dynamo bounced them from Major League Soccers post-season with a 3-0 victory on Thursday. Cheap Nike Sneakers .com) - Sporting Kansas City announced Thursday that club has signed former on-loan midfielder Jimmy Medranda to a permanent contract from Colombian side Deportivo Pereira. http://www.cheapsneakers.us/. According to the Red Wings Twitter feed, Zetterberg plans to practice with the team on Thursday and is aiming for a second round comeback. Sneakers Outlet . -- Kael Mouillierat scored three times and set up one more as the St. Adidas Sneakers Cheap . Replay backed him up. Adeiny Hechavarria immediately followed the ruling with a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Miami Marlins, who held on to beat the Seattle Mariners 3-2 on Sunday completing a three-game sweep.TORONTO -- A short mid-game lapse was the difference between victory and defeat for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night. Defenceman Dalton Prout and centre Artem Anisimov scored less than three minutes apart in the second period as the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets held off the Leafs for a 2-1 victory. "We had a mediocre second period and it cost us the game," said Leafs defenceman Cody Franson. "We got away from our game plan, we tried to get cute with the puck and turned it over too many times. And when you play a team that has that kind of transitional ability, thats not what you want to do." The Leafs carried the play for the majority of the first period and skated with desperation in the third, but ultimately couldnt break through the Blue Jackets defence. "For the first period we had lots of life and we were winning battles," said Leafs coach Randy Carlyle. "In the second period we just started to stall in the neutral zone. Were a team that needs to push the puck up the ice and establish a forecheck and we didnt do that for the first 13, 14 minutes of the second period." When the Leafs were able to apply some pressure, Sergei Bobrovsky was more than equal to the task. The Columbus goalie made 28 saves and stood especially tall when Toronto pushed for the tying goal in the final minutes of the game. "Their goalie made some really big saves in the third period and we missed some opportunities that we usually score on," said Leafs winger Joffrey Lupul. "We had some good chances, they just didnt go in." Its the Leafs third consecutive defeat since the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Toronto dropped overtime games on the road to the New York Islanders on Thursday and Montreal Saturday. "The three losses hurt because we had points available to us on the road," Carlyle said. "Thats the hard part, losing two overtime games on the road when we had one-goal leads in both games. That kind of kicks you a little bit, it doesnt feel very good." The Leafs remain in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, but five teams are within five or fewer points. "Obviously we wanted a different outcome in the past three games," Franson said. "But if you look at them we were sloppy on (Long) Island and still gave ourselves a chance to win. I thought we played a pretty decent game against Montreal, a couple of bounces and some penalty trouble cost us that one. "We didnt play a full 60 minutes tonight and thats on us. The other two games couldve gone either way." The loss against Columbus ended a seven-game home winning streak for Toronto, the Leafs longest at Air Canada Centre since a nine-game run in 2006-07. "We were rolling pretty good there and feeling quite confident in what we were doing (before the Olympic break)," Franson said. "When youre rolling like that, someetimes it can be difficult to find that smoothness in how you were performing before.dddddddddddd" The victory gives the Blue Jackets a sweep of the season series as Columbus beat Toronto 5-2 on Oct. 25 and thumped the Leafs 6-0 on Nov. 25. "They play a stingy game, they dont give you too much," Franson said. "They forecheck hard, they make you execute down low and if you dont youre going to get bit." Mason Raymond scored the lone goal for Toronto (32-23-8), making a game of it when he wired a slapshot past Bobrovsky at 15:45 of the third period. Thats as close as the Leafs would get, however, despite a late flurry when goalie James Reimer was pulled. "We didnt have enough of getting pucks through," Carlyle said. "It seemed like when we had glorious opportunities early in the game, they were blocking the shots. Later on, we stopped going to the front of the net and Bobrovsky had clear sightlines to make the saves." Reimer made 31 saves in a losing effort. It was his first start since Jan. 25. "I hadnt been in there for a while, so youre a little rusty and the games different than a practice, its faster, you have to battle harder through traffic," Reimer said. "There was a little rust there, but I felt pretty good." The teams were tied 0-0 after the first period and Columbus led 2-0 through 40 minutes. "They took over the game in the second period, they played really well, and we didnt find an answer soon enough," Lupul said. Reimer was sharp early as the Blue Jackets applied pressure, including a clear-cut breakaway by Columbus left-winger Nick Foligno less than for minutes into the game that was denied by the Leafs goalie. "We gave up two point-blank breakaways and Reimer stopped them both," Carlyle said. "You cant point to our goaltending as a deficiency, for sure. He did his part to give us a chance." Aided by a pair of power plays in the middle of the opening period, Toronto took over the momentum for the rest of the first period and had a handful of scoring chances but couldnt solve Bobrovsky. Prout opened the scoring when his slapshot from the left point beat a screened Reimer at 9:44 of the second. It was the defencemans first goal in 30 games this season and his second goal in 63 career NHL games. "Hes one of those guys that you root for and his teammates root for," said Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards. Anisimov gave the vistors a two-goal lead when he converted Nathan Hortons pass at the side of the crease at 12:38. Columbus went 0-for-1 on the power play while Toronto was 0-for-2. NOTES: The announced attendance at ACC was 19,577. a The Blue Jackets shut out the Leafs 6-0 at ACC in the last meeting between the two teams on Nov. 25, 2013. a Columbus defenceman Ryan Murray left with a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return. ' ' '