PITTSBURGH — If there’s a safe harbor for the Cardinals, a place where they can dock a few times this month, refuel, and maybe, just maybe get some buoyancy in this season after several months of low tide, it’s along the Allegheny River at PNC Park.
They’ll need starts like they got Tuesday to finish strong.
Against the submerged Pirates, lefty J. A. Happ pitched six sturdy innings and the only hit he allowed was a home run in the Cardinals’ 4-1 victory. Happ got his first win of this season while with the Twins by throwing 7 1/3 innings and allowing one hit against the Pirates, and he got his first win as a Cardinal by echoing the feat against the last-place Bucs. Of the three veteran lefties the Cardinals have added to rescue their rotation in the past 2 1/2 months, Happ is the first two get a win — in the 10th start by that trio.
