would like to have that one back, probably." Trouba had tied the gam

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. Cheap Vegas Golden Knights Jerseys . Week 2s biggest games include Florida facing Miami and Notre Dame travelling to the Big House to conclude their rivalry against Michigan in primetime on TSN2 and TSN 1050. Wholesale Golden Knights Jerseys . For the Blue Jays the time was Wednesday and the ace was R.A. Dickey. He stepped up. "I feel some responsibility as a stopper from time to time," said Dickey. http://www.cheapgoldenknightsjerseys.com/ . His big 2-minute outburst in the fourth quarter Tuesday night is all that really mattered for the Dallas Mavericks. Cheap Adidas Golden Knights Jerseys .com) - The Toronto Raptors set their sights on a second straight victory with the Oklahoma City Thunder visiting the Air Canada Centre tonight riding a two game streak of their own. Cheap Golden Knights Jerseys . Billy Hamilton finished off Cincinnatis biggest comeback of the season for a doubleheader sweep. WINNIPEG -- New head coach Paul Maurice has liked what hes seen so far from Winnipeg Jets rookies Jacob Trouba and Mark Scheifele. The pair of freshmen scored all three goals for the Jets in a 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers, boosting Maurices record to 3-0 since taking over for the fired Claude Noel on Jan. 12. "Theyre good players," said Maurice, adding that he doesnt really look at the franchises first two No. 1 draft picks since moving from Atlanta as rookies. "Theres not like a kiddie section in our locker room." Trouba, a 19-year-old defenceman, tied the game in the third period and scored in overtime for Winnipeg (22-23-5), while Scheifele, a 20-year-old centre, gave the Jets a 2-1 lead midway through the third. Jordan Eberle and David Perron scored for the Oilers (15-30-6), who finished 0-4 on a Central Division road trip that saw them outscored 17-8. After nearly scoring himself, Jets winger Blake Wheeler found Trouba alone in front of the net for the winning goal 1:10 into overtime. "Nobody really got down when we got down a goal," said Trouba, who couldnt recall ever scoring an overtime winner or scoring twice in a game. "I dont do that very often." The Oilers forced extra time when Perron redirected a Jeff Petry point shot with two minutes remaining to make it 2-2 on just the fifth Edmonton shot of the third period. Perron said the game would have played out much differently had the Oilers been able to add to their 1-0 lead. "I had a breakaway in the first," he said. "I would like to have that one back, probably." Trouba had tied the game at 5:48 of the third with a short-handed goal when Bryan Little carried the puck down the left wing, went around a sprawling Petry, and found the rookie defenceman in the low slot. It was the league-worst ninth short-handed goal allowed by the Oilers this season. "They were both spectacular plays," Trouba said of the setups from Little and Wheeler. "Youve just got to get the puck to those kind of players and theyll find you." Little and Maurice spoke of the Jets willingness to stay patient despite trailing by a goal. "We didnt want to take too many chances and too many risks yet," Little said. "It was just a one-goal game. We were waiting for our opportunities, and it happened to come when we were shoorthanded.dddddddddddd" Then Scheifele fought through a check along the boards, cut to the front of the net and banged home his own rebound to make it 2-1, his ninth goal of the season, at 10:37 of the third period. Oilers coach Dallas Eakins was encouraged by the fight his team showed after finding itself down a goal. "We were fine early," Eakins said, "and then as the game wears on and as the game gets harder and harder we dont have that strength to quite sustain it for the full 60 minutes." Ondrej Pavelec stopped 20-of-22 shots for Winnipeg, while Ilya Bryzgalov made 36 saves for Edmonton. Eberle opened the scoring for the Oilers on the power play at 6:59 of the second period with his 16th goal of the season. Eberle took a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins below the left faceoff dot and beat Pavelec high to the glove side. The Jets came close in the first 40 minutes, outshooting the Oilers 24-16 through two periods, but couldnt beat Bryzgalov. The Jets had an 11-8 edge in shots after a scoreless first period that saw each team fail to score on a pair of power plays. Newly acquired Oilers forward Matt Hendricks took a puck to the ear midway through the period and went to the locker-room, but returned to the game shortly after. Wheeler was shaken up after taking an elbow to the head from Taylor Hall, but didnt miss a shift. Some were expecting the bad blood to carry over from the teams previous meeting, a 6-2 Edmonton win on Dec. 23 in which the Jets racked up 78 penalty minutes. But there was little action after the whistle until a short third-period scrap between Hendricks and Jets defenceman Mark Stuart. The Oilers return home for three games, beginning Tuesday against Vancouver. The Jets, meanwhile, face a difficult two-game Californian road trip with games Tuesday in Anaheim and Thursday in San Jose. Notes: Oilers forward Nail Yakupov, who left Thursdays game with a head injury, was a scratch. Teammate Ales Hemsky missed a second straight game with a foot injury. a Jets winger Evander Kane missed his fourth consecutive game with a hand injury suffered during a fight in the final seconds of a game against Tampa Bay on Jan. 7. a Winnipegs experiment with Dustin Byfuglien at forward continued for a fourth game. Regularly a defenceman, the 28-year-old Byfuglien was playing in his 500th career NHL game. 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