PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Carpenter, Randal Grichuk and Jhonny Peralta all homered off closer Tony Watson with two outs in the ninth inning, helping the St. Louis Cardinals rally past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-7 on Tuesday night. The Cardinals were down to their last strike when Carpenter sent a long drive to right-center to tie it 6-6. Grichuk followed two batters later with a two-run shot off Watson (2-4), and Peralta piled on with a solo homer as St. Louis held on to the second wild card in the NL.

Carpenter’s homer was the 15th by a St. Louis pinch-hitter this season, a major league record. Yadier Molina went 4 for 5, including a first-inning grand slam. Mike Mayers (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth for the win, and Seung-Hwan Oh worked around a solo homer to Jung Ho Kang in the ninth for his 16th save.