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PITTSBURGH -- Neil Walker wasnt expecting to have a big offensive game Friday night, especially with Michael Wacha pitching for the St. Louis Cardinals. The last time Wacha started at PNC Park was in the Game 4 of last years National League Division Series and he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yet the hot-hitting Walker had three hits, including a go-ahead three-run home run in the seventh inning, and drove in four runs to help the Pirates beat the Cardinals 6-4. "Wacha is so good, as we found out last year," said Walker, who has reached base in 22 of his last 40 plate appearances. "He throws hard and youve got to shorten up your swing and put the ball in play. Thats the best way to approach him because youre usually not going to do too much against him." While Walkers first two hits were against Wacha, his seventh homer came off Carlos Martinez (0-2) and rallied the Pirates from a 4-3 deficit for their third straight victory. Jordy Mercer and pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez led off the inning with singles and were bunted up a base by Jose Tabata before Walker hit a drive into the right-field stands. "Martinez is as tough as Wacha, but he hung a slider and I was able to put a good swing on it," Walker said. "I was surprised. The guy has such great stuff that youre not thinking that youre going to hit a home run in that situation. It was huge." Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said it didnt appear that Martinez got the home run pitch "where he wanted it." Mercer had three of the Pirates 12 hits, while Ike Davis, who hit a two-run double in the first inning to open the scoring, and Tabata had two hits apiece. Pittsburgh beat St. Louis for the 10th time in 13 games at home. Mercers performance was a welcome development for the Pirates and their shortstop, who is hitting just .187. "Ive been putting in a lot of time in the batting cage, trying to figure things out and its nice to have some results because I feel confident now when I step in the batters box," Mercer said. "Confidence is such a big part of hitting." St. Louis had gone ahead earlier in the seventh on Jhonny Peraltas solo home run, his eighth. Allen Craigs three-run home run, his fourth, accounted for the Cardinals other runs. Peralta and Craig had two hits apiece in the Cardinals second loss in five games. Justin Wilson (1-0) struck out the only batter he faced, Matt Adams, to end the top of the seventh. Mark Melancon, filling as the closer for injured Jason Grilli, pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save. Both starting pitchers worked five innings and had uneven performances. Pittsburghs Francisco Liriano allowed three runs, five hits and four walks while striking out five, while Wacha gave up three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. Liriano has gone a career-long 11 regular-season starts without a win since beating the Texas Rangers last Sept. 10. Wacha is winless in his last five starts. NOTES: The game was delayed 25 minutes in the top of the fourth inning because of rain. . Pirates OF Travis Sniders appeal of his two-game suspension for his actions in an April 20 brawl were upheld and he began serving his penalty Friday night. . The Cardinals recalled OF Joey Butler from Triple-A Memphis and optioned OF Randal Grichuk to the same club. . Pittsburgh recalled INF Brent Morel from Triple-A Indianapolis. They had optioned RHP Phil Irwin to Indianapolis on Thursday. . Grilli threw from the top of the mound Friday for the first time since April 21 when the closer went on the disabled list with a strained left oblique. . Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (4-1, 3.51) will start Saturday night against RHP Edinson Volquez (1-3, 4.19). Cheap Jerseys For Sale . Huntington doesnt want to help run the club unless Hurdle is in the dugout. The combination thats returned the franchise to respectability will remain intact for years to come. Wholesale Jerseys Online .twitter.com/xBTpoAKLJk — Daryl Zerr (@darylzerr) May 29, 2014 @BarDown I give to you the @SquirrelsNCHL aka the Fighting Squirels. https://www.cheapjerseysreview.com/ . The Swede became the first golfer to win the PGA Tours FedEx Cup and European Tours Race to Dubai in the same season. "It is still taking a little time to sink in what Ive achieved this week as was the case when I won the FedEx Cup but then it just kept getting better and better as the days went on and I am sure this will be the same," he said. Cheap Jerseys Review . That still leaves a big hole.You dont replace the leadership, defensive co-ordinator Billy Davis said. You just dont. Leadership is something that is earned over time. Replica Jerseys China . You can catch all of the action LIVE on TSN2 at 6pm et/3pm pt. The Heat reached that mark Saturday night when they ruined the Philadelphia 76ers home opener.If Lewis Hamilton is to take his title fight with Nico Rosberg down to the wire then one long-running sequence must almost certainly end this weekend - the reigning F1 champions mysterious Brazilian Grand Prix victory jinx. Nine times Hamilton has raced at atmospheric Interlagos, the track forever associated with his hero Ayrton Senna, and nine times he has failed to win.Two second places and one third are the best results for a driver who has otherwise cantered up F1s all-time winners list over the last few seasons. What Rosberg needs to be champion in BrazilIts not that Hamilton has been completely starved of success in Brazil - after all, what will probably remain the most dramatic moment of his career occurred there in 2008 when he clinched his first world title in a dramatic final corner of the season.But he still only crossed the line on that famous day in fifth place. The podiums top step has remained elusive. Hamiltons Interlagos recordThe notion of a sportsperson or team being jinxed at a particular venue or competition is common - just ask fans of Major League Baseballs Chicago Cubs before last weekend - but invariably hard to definitively explain.Thats certainly the case where Hamilton and the Brazilian GP are concerned.Of the races that have been ever-present on the calendar since Hamiltons F1 debut in 2007, Brazil is the only one the 51-time GP victor hasnt triumphed at - despite his team-mates winning on three occasions. Lewis Hamilton in Brazil Year Qualified Finished 2007 2nd 7th 2008 4th 5th 2009 17th 3rd 2010 4th 4th 2011 4th Retired (gearbox) 2012 Pole Retired (collision) 2013 5th 9th 2014 2nd 2nd 2015 2nd 2nd Incredibly, he has led only 26 laps in total - less than half the circuits race distance.Be it mistakes or unreliability, drama has certainly never been far away for Hamilton at Interlagos.Hamiltons baptism in 2007 certainly fell into this category. Aiming to become F1s first rookie world champion, he qualified second ahead of his two title rivals but then got overambitious on the first lap, dropping to eighth, before his recovery was scuppered by a brief-but-disastrous gearbox glitch. A year later and what appeared McLarens cautious management of Hamiltons weekend - he only needed to finish fifth to become champion - seemed to affect the driver and in the end his dramatic final-lap pass on Timo Glock meant a hardly-vintage race performance was completely forgotten in the title euphoria.He drove far better a year later to finish third from a rain-affected 17th on the grid.It wasnt until 2012, and his final race for McLaren, that Hamilton even led a lap at Interlagos but hopes of signing off from Woking with a flourish were scuppered when Nico Hulkenberg dropped his Force India into the side of the Britons car at the first corner in a botched overtake in the wet. Nico Hulkenberg slides into Lewis Hamilton while he was leading the 2012 Brazilian GP ending the then-McLaren driver’s race. Mercedes rise to power means Hamiltons two best chances to end his Interlagos drought have come in the last two years, yet it has been Rosberg who has beaten him to victory. 2014 probably represents the one that got away when a charging Hamilton was on course to jump his team-mate through the pit stops but spun on his in-lap at the end of the backstraight.Shaded by team-matesUnusually, Hamilton has been outperformed by his team-mates in F1 at Interlagos more often than hes outperformed them.In addition to Rosbergs back-to-back wins in 2014 and 2015 at Mercedes, Jenson Button cashed in on Hamiltons 2012 collision with Hulkenberg to claim the victory. Hamilton versus team-mates in Brazil Lewis Hamilton Head-to-head Team-mates 0 Wins 3 3 Podiums 5 1 Pole positions 2 4 Qualified ahead 5 3 Ahead in two-car race finish 4 Hamilton has also been out-qualified five times out of nine at Interlagos, with his sole pole coming in 2012.ddddddddddddIn fact, he has yet to beat Rosberg on either Saturday or Sunday on this circuit in their three previous years as team-mates. Not that there has been much in it, mind you - less than a tenth of a second decided their 2014 and 2015 pole duels in the Germans favour. What does Lewis say?In the now perennial pre-Brazil question to him, Hamilton was asked at the Mexican GP if there was any particular reason why victory at Interlagos had eluded him.Not particularly, he replied. In McLaren I probably had one year [2012] where I could have won it and I was taken out by Hulkenberg.Then last year, and the year before, Nico was exceptionally quick. I think last year I was very close, I qualified second by 0.07s or something like that, I lost out in the gearshift up the hill. So who knows, third time lucky maybe? Which races has Lewis not won? Grand Prix Attempts Best finish Brazilian GP 9 2nd (x2) European GP 7 2nd (x3) Korean GP* 4 2nd (x2) Indian GP* 3 4th French GP* 2 3rd *no longer on calendar If Hamilton wins this weekend, it certainly wouldnt be the first time it has taken a multiple world champion a long time to crack Brazil - Senna took eight attempts to win his home race, albeit at two different tracks.Its that connection to Senna, and the desire to emulate his boyhood idols F1 achievements, that has sometimes been cited as a potential extra source of pressure on Hamilton in Brazil. Ahead of last years race, the Briton said a first victory at Interlagos would act as a salute from him to the late three-time world champion.The race to the 2016 titleMaybe it is too emotional for him, suggested F1 filmmaker Mario Muth on this weeks F1 Report. You could see when he won three championships he kind of had to search for new motivation because he got Ayrtons record. Maybe Brazil is too much Ayrton for him.Maybe, but probably increasingly unlikely for a driver who has already joined his hero in the pantheon of the sports most successful drivers. Where has Lewis won most often? Race wins Grand Prix 5 Hungary, Canada, USA 4 China, Great Britain 3 Italy, Japan, Germany 2 Abu Dhabi, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Monaco, Russia, Singapore 1 Malaysia, Spain, Turkey, Austria, Mexico Time to end the drought?If Hamilton could choose a moment to finally crack the Brazilian GP then it would surely be this weekend.Needing a victory to make sure his title defence remains alive all the way to the Abu Dhabi season finale in two weeks, the 31-year-olds task at Interlagos has never been clearer.Ive never won in Brazil, so I go into this weekend focused on changing that, he declared before departing for Sao Paulo.For many reasons then, a 52nd career win on Sunday would probably never taste sweeter.Can Nico Rosberg clinch the title at Interlagos? Watch the Brazilian GP live on Sky Sports F1 on Sunday, the race begins at 4pm; Watch the whole race weekend with a NOW TV week pass - £10.99, no contract Also See: How the title can be won in Brazil Whens the Brazilian GP on Sky? Hamiltons lifestyle is working The race to the 2016 F1 title ' ' '