so many years and we had a really tough
PITTSBURGH -- Pinch-runner Josh Harrison stood on second base in the bottom of the eighth inning and pointed to Pittsburgh Pirates third base coach Nick Leyva. \"I told him to get that arm ready, because Im coming,\" Harrison said. Moments later, Harrison was streaking across home plate to give the Pirates the lead. Minutes after that, the Jolly Roger thats been a fixture on the Pittsburgh skyline all summer climbed up the flagpole again. Harrison scored on Pedro Alvarezs tiebreaking single Sunday, sending the Pirates to a 5-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals that staked Pittsburgh to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five NL division series. Russell Martin followed with a sharp RBI single against reliever Kevin Siegrist, who took over after Carlos Martinez (0-1) faltered. The go-ahead single was the latest big hit by Alvarez. He homered in the first two games against St. Louis and is 4 for 10 with four RBIs in the series. Alvarez also kept the Pirates famous flag flying high in October. \"Raise the Jolly Roger!\" is the rallying cry for this wild-card team, now one victory from its first post-season series win since Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and the \"We Are Family\" gang won it all in 1979. \"Were continuing to surprise a lot of people, I believe. Were continuing to show people that were not done, that were not just happy to be in the post-season,\" star centre fielder Andrew McCutchen said. \"Were fighting to win a World Series.\" Heady territory for a franchise that had endured a record 20 consecutive years of losing coming into this season. Six months later, the Pirates are on the cusp of knocking out baseball royalty. Mark Melancon (1-0) picked up the win despite allowing Carlos Beltrans tying home run in the top of the eighth. Jason Grilli worked the ninth for a save. Charlie Morton is set to start for Pittsburgh in Game 4 on Monday against rookie Michael Wacha. Beltran finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs. His 16th playoff home run moved him past Babe Ruth for eighth place in post-season history. \"Its a must-win tomorrow for us,\" Beltran said. \"Hopefully we can come here tomorrow, take care of business, win and go play the last game at home.\" Beltrans shot temporarily silenced a rocking crowd at PNC Park. It also set the stage for another dramatic win by the Pirates. McCutchen led off the eighth with his second hit, a double to left. But the NL MVP candidate unwisely tried to advance on Justin Morneaus grounder to shortstop and was an easy out at third. Harrison ran for Morneau and moved up when Marlon Byrd walked. St. Louis manager Mike Matheny turned to a lefty in Siegrist to face the left-handed Alvarez. The Pittsburgh slugger tied for the NL lead with 36 homers during the regular season, but hit just .180 against lefties. \"I just knew it was going to be a tough matchup,\" Alvarez said. \"Ive seen him a couple of times before. I havent had much success. Hes a pitcher with good stuff -- great stuff. He threw me a couple of fastballs out over the plate.\" One too many, as it turned out, and Alvarez singled between first and second. Martin then fouled off a squeeze bunt before lining a hit to left that gave Grilli more than enough cushion. The game was a rare nail-biter between two clubs that spent the summer shadowing each other in the race for the NL Central title. Coming into Sunday, only five of the previous 21 matchups between the two were decided by two runs or less. After blowouts by each club in St. Louis, there wasnt much room to breathe in front of a frenzied, black-clad crowd looking for a repeat of Pittsburghs giddy 6-2 romp over Cincinnati in the wild-card game last Tuesday. Martins sacrifice fly off reliever Seth Maness in the sixth gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead and turned the game over to Pittsburghs \"Shark Tank\" bullpen, one of the keys to the franchises first winning season and playoff berth in a generation. Tony Watson worked around a one-out single in the seventh before giving way to Melancon. The Cardinals must win two straight to advance to the NL championship series for the third straight year. \"Weve been in this situation,\" Beltran said. \"Last year, I think we were in this situation a lot. So I think were fine, man. We want to come here tomorrow, we want to win and hopefully take this series home.\" Pirates starter Francisco Liriano dominated the Cardinals during the regular season, going 3-0 with an 0.75 ERA in three starts against the NLs highest-scoring team. He was electric against the Reds last Tuesday, shaking off a sinus infection and baffling them with a series of changeups and sliders that ended Cincinnatis season and manager Dusty Bakers tenure. Liriano narrowly escaped damage in the third Sunday when Matt Holliday lined to right with the bases loaded. The left-hander wasnt quite as fortunate in the fifth. Jon Jay led off with a single and Pete Kozma followed with a walk. After pitcher Joe Kelly struck out trying to bunt, a double steal set up Beltrans two-run single. At 2-all, the Cardinals had matched their entire output against Liriano in their previous 28 innings. Liriano was matched nearly pitch for pitch by the unflappable Kelly. The 25-year-old right-hander has been rock-steady all season, even as he moved from middle reliever to starter in July. Kelly welcomed the hostile environment, calling the sea of black-clad fans that awaited him one of the things a kid dreams about. The reality proved a little more unnerving, at least when Byrd hit a two-run single in the first. The well-travelled outfielder -- who played in 1,250 regular-season games before reaching the playoffs for the first time -- has been a welcome jolt both in the lineup and in the clubhouse for the Pirates. \"Just having a heck of a time,\" Byrd said. NOTES: Grilli worked around a leadoff single in the ninth. ... McCutchen is batting .538 (7 for 13) and has an on-base percentage of .684 in the playoffs. His five walks rank first in the league this post-season. ... Beltrans home run was the first by the Cardinals in 10 games at PNC Park this year. Russell Wilson Youth Jersey . For some schools, these tournaments act as final tune-ups before March Madness to get their teams into gear before the Big Dance actually starts. 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Kuchar shot 65, and Loupe had a 70.LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- Lithuania advanced to the second round of the European basketball championship despite losing 78-72 to Bosnia-Herzegovina on Monday, while Germany knocked out Israel. Needing to win by 10 to squeeze out Lithuania, Bosnia led 72-58 after Mirza Teletovic knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:22 left in the game. Teletovic finished with 31 points but Lithuania cut the deficit and moved on. Linas Kleiza had 20 points and 10 rebounds for Lithuania. Croatia advanced by beating the Czech Republic 70-53. Ante Tomic had 12 points for Croatia, while Pavel Pumpria had 19 for the Czechs. Jan Vesely added 11 points and 11 rebounds. Germany, already eliminated, prevented Israel from advancing by winning 80-76. That outcome sent Belgium through. Ukraine and Latvia had already advanced to the second round by that time. The Ukrainians beat Britain 87-68, getting 11 points each from Ihor Zaytsev and Kyryl Natyazhko. Latvia, which got 15 points from Kristaps Janicenoks, defeated Macedonia 76-66 and eliminated a team that was in the semifinals two years ago. On the last day of group play, defending champion Spain won its fourth in five games by beating Georgia 83-59 to reach the second round. Ricky Rubio led Spain with 16 points. Finland beat Greece 86-77 in a match between two already-qualified teams, with Petteri Koponen scoring 29 for Finland. Italy beat Sweden 82-79 to finish on top of Group D, with Finland second and Greece third. Italy is the only unbeaten team, with five victories. Sweden led 63-56 late in the third quarter when Italy went on a 14-0 run to turn around the game. Italy overcame 26 points from Swedens forward Jeffery Taylor. With star guuard Marco Belinelli sitting out, Alessandro Gentile had 19 points for Italy, while Pietro Aradori scored 16.dddddddddddd. Ukraine dominated from the start to register its fourth win in five games and eliminate Britain. \"They had a chance to advance depending on what happened but we also wanted to advance, and it was important to our players to advance by winning,\" Ukraine coach Mike Fratello said. Spain trailed by one with just over three minutes left in the second quarter when Rudy Fernandez made a three-point play to put his team ahead by two. Spain then went on a 15-2 run to put away the game. \"We were aggressive on defence and found easy shots on offence. I think we did a good job on defence and that gave us consistency in the game,\" Rubio said. \"We always try to impose our pace, but of course thats not possible at all times. We know that we have had a good first round, with one lost game against Slovenia, so we know that we have to correct some things and we are ready for whatever is about to come.\" Latvia outscored Macedonia 27-16 in the first quarter after starting the game with a 12-0 run. \"The plan was to be real aggressive, play aggressive defence. Because of that we got so many fast breaks,\" Latvia point guard Dairis Bertans said. \"We havent been (to the second round) for so many years and we had a really tough group this year.\" Tibor Pleiss had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Germany, which also got 15 points apiece from Per Guenther and Lucca Steiger. Omri Casspi had 22 points and 13 rebounds for Israel, while Lior Eliyahu also had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China ' ' '