Cardinals keep the runs coming against Pirates, 7-1

By ALAN ROBINSON\AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Matt Morris breezed in his first start since offseason shoulder surgery, limiting the Pirates to one run and four hits in six innings Tuesday night to help the St. Louis Cardinals to a 7-1 victory and a two-game sweep in Pittsburgh.

Jim Edmonds homered for the second consecutive night and Larry Walker and Albert Pujols each drove in two runs as the Cardinals outscored the Pirates 18-2 in the series. The Pirates' 4-10 start, including a 1-6 home record, is their worst since they were 4-13 in 1995.

At least there's one team that knows how to win in PNC Park. The Cardinals are 27-9 there, including sweeps of four and three games last season.

Morris (1-0), a 15-game winner despite pitching with severe shoulder pain last season, couldn't have asked for a much better debut following two minor league rehabilitation starts. He needed only 71 pitches - 14 fewer than his planned limit - while striking out seven and walking one. The Pirates' only run came on Daryle Ward's homer, his second, leading off the second.

The Cardinals were up 4-0 at the time, thanks to a four-run second that came just two innings after they scored nine in the ninth inning of Monday's 11-1 rout. They didn't need much help against Josh Fogg (1-1), who is 1-7 against them with seven consecutive losses, but got plenty from a sloppy Pirates defense.

Only two of the six runs Fogg allowed in five innings were earned, and the pitcher was his own worst enemy.

Fogg threw Yadier Molina's groundball into center field for a two-base throwing error during the big second inning. In the fourth, he made the rarely seen mistake of throwing to the wrong man on an attempted force play - rather than shortstop Jack Wilson, who was covering second base, he threw instead to second baseman Rob Mackowiak, who was well off the bag.

There was more, perfectly illustrating a season that is fast slipping away from the Pirates. First baseman Ward booted Walker's grounder just ahead of Fogg's wild throw. And Pujols got a gift RBI double in the second because left fielder Craig Wilson was playing him so deep, Pujols' fly ball fell in short left field.

Edmonds led off that inning with his fifth homer - the fourth off Fogg in three starts - and former Pirates infielder Abraham Nunez singled for the first of his four hits. After Mark Grudzielanek walked, Walker singled into right field for two runs.

Morris allowed only two hits after Ward's homer, consecutive singles by Ward and Bobby Hill in the fourth.