St. Louis Cardinals Score Six Runs in Second Inning Against Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday

Losing three of four to the New York Mets was a tough pill to swallow for the St. Louis Cardinals, but it seems like those three wins have been gained back in a single weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

St. Louis won the first two games of the series at PNC Park by a combined three runs as the Pirates were able to keep things close.

However, the momentum shifted dramatically on Sunday afternoon as the Cardinals stormed out to a 12-0 lead, thanks in large part to a six-run second inning.

It was the first time this season that the Cardinals scored six or more runs in an inning and surprisingly, none of the six runs scored via home run.

Harrison Bader started the run parade with an RBI single, followed by a two-run double from Tommy Edman, one of two run-scoring doubles in the inning.

Nolan Arenado closely followed with a sacrifice fly and Brendan Donovan capped off the scoring with the aforementioned second two-run double in frame.

There was much more to come and more that already happened as in the first inning, rookie Nolan Gorman recorded his first career RBI in the big leagues, an RBI double off Pirates starter Bryse Wilson.

In the fifth, Albert Pujols joined in on the fun, launching his 682nd career home run, a solo shot to make it 12-0.

Concerns still arise on the Cardinals side of things as starter Steven Matz was pulled after throwing just four pitches as his velocity was significantly down and he didn't look comfortable on the mound.

Luckily, St. Louis got a great outing out of Angel Rondón, who threw five scoreless innings in "relief" in just his third-ever MLB appearance on the mound. He struck out four Pirates hitters and allowed just one hit on the day.

It seems locked in now that St. Louis will sweep the Pirates on the road, improving to 23-18 on the year with the win.