PITTSBURGH -- A special season on the verge of collapse, the Pittsburgh Pirates steadied themselves behind Pedro Alvarez. Wholesale Jerseys USA . The third baseman stayed hot, blasting his 26th homer of the season and driving in three runs as the Pirates rolled to a 5-0 victory over St. Louis on Wednesday night. Alvarezs three-run shot in the third gave him seven home runs and 23 RBI in 15 games against the defending world champions. "I was just out there trying to compete," Alvarez said. "Its just one of those things." The win, coming on the heels of a 9-0 rout over St. Louis on Tuesday, pulled Pittsburgh with one game of the Cardinals for the second NL wild card spot. It also gave them a needed boost as September neared. Searching for the first winning season and playoff berth in two decades, the Pirates appeared in trouble after losing six of seven following a 4-3 defeat on Monday. Instead, they bounced back with a resiliency thats been their calling card all year and has them playing important baseball into September for the first time since Barry Bonds was patrolling the outfield at Three Rivers Stadium. "We had to get back on the right track," said right fielder Garrett Jones. "We were in a little rut there where for whatever reason we couldnt get back on the winning track and things werent going our way. We stayed positive, stayed confident and knowing we could turn things around." Wandy Rodriguez (9-13) worked six tidy innings for Pittsburgh to pick up his first victory as a starter since being acquired in a trade last month. Rodriguez walked three and struck out three while helping the Pirates shut out the Cardinals for the second straight night. "You go against that offence and you put 18 zeros on the board in 18 innings, I couldnt be any prouder of them," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Offensively we found a way and had some two out big strikes. To finish the last 48 hours, were going to battle." Joe Kelly (4-6) struggled with control problems during five rocky innings, giving up five runs on eight hits. The victory helped the Pirates take the season series from St. Louis 8-7, not an insignificant number with both teams battling for a post-season berth. If the two clubs are tied for the second wild card spot at the end of the regular season, the Pirates would have host the play-in game. The playoffs dont begin for another five weeks. Pittsburgh, however, remains intent on being a factor until the end. "We can definitely use these two wins as a sparkplug for games to come," Alvarez said. Particularly if the former first-round pick continues to develop into the lineup-anchoring power hitter the team envisioned when it drafted him four years ago. Alvarez certainly feasted on St. Louis pitching this season, going 23-for-58 (.396). He gave Rodriguez all the offence necessary in the third. Coming to the plate with two on and two out, Alvarez drilled an 82 mph curveball from Kelly into the right field seats. The ball left the park so quickly Alvarez barely had time to break into his home run trot before it landed. ""I let the hottest hitter on their team beat me," Kelly said. "I was down 3-1 and hung a breaking ball to a good hitter. I made a bad pitch and he made me pay." The blast gave the Pirates a 4-0 lead and Alvarez made it 5-0 in the fifth when he doubled with two outs and scored on a single by Josh Harrison. Rodriguez took advantage of the cushion. He came in 0-4 as a starter with the Pirates after being acquired from Houston on July 24. His only victory came in two relief innings during Pittsburghs 19-inning marathon win in St. Louis on Aug. 19. Hurdle blamed part of Rodriguezs problems on the pressure of trying to validate the trade. Hurdle urged the veteran lefthander to relax, and Rodriguez looked at ease playing with a sizable lead for the first time as a Pirate. The Cardinals managed just three paltry singles against him and never got a runner to third. "I feel very comfortable when I see the score 4-0," Rodriguez said. The Cardinals played without catcher Yadier Molina, who sat out as a precaution following a brutal collision at home with Harrison on Tuesday night. Molina suffered neck, shoulder and arm soreness after Harrison crashed into him trying to score from second. Tony Cruz started in Molinas place and had two of St. Louis five hits, but the Cardinals failed to muster any offence as their scoreless streak reached 21 innings. "Weve seen quite a bit of this this year, its been a lot of feast or famine," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "Its hard to understand it because we certainly have the ability to put something up there every night." NOTES: Pittsburgh 2B Neil Walker missed his third straight game with a stiff back. Walker said hes starting to feel better but still has no timetable on a possible return. ... The Cardinals begin a four-game series in Washington on Thursday. Jaime Garcia (7-9, 3.72 ERA) takes on Washingtons Edwin Jackson (7-9, 3.72) in the opener ... Pittsburgh is off Thursday and travels to Milwaukee for a weekend series on Friday. Jeff Karstens (5-3, 3.47) faces Milwaukees Mark Rogers (2-1, 4.28) in the first game. Wholesale Jerseys Paypal . Lucio, who has only been at Juventus for a month, twisted his right ankle in Fridays session and underwent medical tests on Saturday. Wholesale Jerseys . An MRI on Friday discovered the injury. The second-year pro has averaged 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds a game over nine contests this season after averaging 7. http://www.unityvirtual.net/hot.html[/... . The CFL club announced Tuesday it is changing its helmet logo back to a simple W which, aside from some navy blue trim, is identical to the logo the club had when it won Grey Cups in the 1960s, 80s and 90s. [url=http://www.unityvirtual.net/hot.html]Wholesale Jerseys Supply . The 19-year-old forward scored once for London and has nine goals and 17 assists during his streak. He now has 19 goals and 44 points in 26 contests, which is good for second in OHL scoring. Wholesale Jerseys China . Cribbs was injured in the first quarter Thursday night, when he was flattened while returning a kickoff by Ravens linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. EDMONTON -- The Toronto Rocks biggest opponent to start National Lacrosse League play this season was the schedule maker. Garrett Billings and Kasey Beirnes had two goals and two assists apiece as the Toronto Rock won 10-9 over the Edmonton Rush on Sunday. Josh Sanderson and Scott Evans also had two-goal games while Stephan Leblanc and Rob Hellyer added one each for the Rock. Toronto improved to 2-0 despite a difficult back-to-back start on the road, including a 13-11 win over the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday. "I thought it was a gutsy, character win," said Toronto head coach Troy Cordingly. "We played just 16 hours after our last game against a team that is fresh and having their home opener. We started slow but the tempo slowed up somewhat and we were really smart in the second half. We won the little battles." Rock captain Colin Doyle said the start to the season was a bit of a challenge, but one they were up to meeting. "Not only were the two games so close together in terms of time, but I think they were against two of the better teams in the league," he said. "We answered the bell and feel pretty good about it. It is only two games in so there is no point getting too excited, but we came here to get two wins and we did so that feels pretty good. "Our goaltending was pretty good for us when it needed to be and we made some big special teams plays when they had a chance to put us away. That led us to tread water a bit until we found our feet. Cordingly hopes the 2-0 start is just a sign of things to come for the Rock. "We like our team," he said. "We are gritty. We are stronger and faster and bigger. And we are hungrier." Rookies Mark Matthews and Curtis Knight each had hat tricks and added two assists for the Rush, who were playing their season opener. Corey Small, Ryan Ward and Zack Greer also scored for Edmonton. Matthews, the first overall pick from the 2012 NLL entry draft at six-foot-five, 230 pounds, made an immediate impact with a goal on his first shot of his pro debut, scoring less than two minutes in on the power play. "It went pretty well, I think, but obviously we didnt get the win so it was a little downplayed by that," Matthews said of his debut. "But I thought I was seeing the ball pretty well and got some good shots. We fell to a good team, hopefully we bounce back next week." The Oshawa, Ont., product then assisted on a goal less than a minute later on another power-play marker by second-round pick Knight, also making his pro debut for the Rush. "They played well," said Rush head coach and G.. Wholesale Jerseys Cheap. .M. Derek Keenan of his two young guns. "Curtis was our best player on the floor, without a doubt. Mark got his chances, but didnt shoot the ball particularly well, I thought, at times. But that will come for him. Those two guys were definitely our best guys on offence. Its just we need some other guys to step up." The two teams traded goals before the Rock made it 3-2 with a power-play goal by Billings. Edmonton took a two-goal lead into the second quarter on a late goal by Ward. The Rush went up by three on Knights second of the game on the power play, but Toronto came right back on goals by Beirnes, Sanderson and Billings to tie the game midway through the second. The Rush went into the locker rooms at the half with a 6-5 lead on Matthews second of the match. Greer gave the Rush back a two-goal edge early in the third and his long shot beat Toronto goalie Nick Rose. However, Toronto came roaring back with three quick goals, two from Evans and one from Sanderson to take their first lead of the game, up 8-7 halfway through the third quarter. Edmonton equalled things up with eight seconds remaining in the third on Knights hat trick goal. The Rocks Beirnes scored the only goal through the first 12 minutes of the fourth quarter to put Toronto up 9-8. Toronto got a big insurance goal with three minutes left as Hellyer picked the top corner. Edmonton got back into the game with two minutes left as Matthews scored his third goal on a diving play in front of the net, but the Rush could not force extra time. The Rock return to Toronto for their home opener against Philadelphia on Saturday night. The Rush are in Washington to face the Stealth on Sunday. Notes: Last season the Toronto Rock entered the playoffs atop the East Division with a 9-7 record. After defeating the rival Buffalo Bandits in the first-round of the 2012 playoffs, the Rock saw their season end with the 17-13 loss to the Rochester Knighthawks. ... The Knighthawks also ended the Rushs season, albeit in the National Lacrosse League championship game. The Rush placed fourth in the West at 6-10 but caught fire in the post-season with wins over Calgary and Minnesota. ... Toronto came into the game with a 10-3 all-time record against Edmonton... It was the pro debut of not only first overall pick Matthews for the Rush, but also highly-touted second round pick Curtis Knight, also from Oshawa, Ontario... Canadian Football League star quarterback Ricky Ray dropped the ball for the ceremonial face-off. Ray won the Grey Cup championship with the Toronto Argonauts this season after being traded by the Edmonton Eskimos. ' ' '