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CINCINNATI, Ohio -- The Pirates MVP saved them. Twice. Andrew McCutchen tied the game with a solo homer in the ninth inning Saturday night, then connected again in the 11th inning, rallying the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. "Strange game," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Its summertime. Strange things are happening." And some spectacular things from Pittsburghs best player. The Pirates blew a four-run lead for the second straight night, but managed to come back behind McCutchen, who has more homers against Cincinnati than anyone else since 2009. With two swings, he saved them from another discouraging meltdown. "Huge swings of the bat for us," Hurdle said. "Hes a special player." The National Leagues 2013 MVP tied it in the ninth off Jonathan Broxton, filling in the closers role because Aroldis Chapman had pitched four days in a row. He hit his 17th homer with two outs in the 11th off J.J. Hoover (1-7) for his ninth career multihomer game. "He does a lot of unreal stuff," said left-hander Justin Wilson (3-1), who escaped a threat in the 10th. "Hes an unbelievable player. Im glad Im on his team and I dont have to pitch against him." Wilson got out of a threat in the 10th with the help of right fielder Gregory Polanco, who threw Ramon Santiago out at the plate as he tried to score from second base on Jay Bruces single. "I cant take all the credit," McCutchen said. "Youve got to think of the throw from Polanco. That was a huge throw, a game-changer for us." McCutchen put the Pirates back ahead with a first-pitch homer off Hoover. "I was just ready to hit," he said. "It was a slider right down the middle, and I was ready to hit it." Jeanmar Gomez pitched the 11th for his first career save. "We know what they have over there," Bruce said. "A guy hits the tying and winning home runs -- you dont see that too often. Im perfectly happy with what we did tonight, except for losing." The Reds won the series opener 6-5 by rallying in the eighth inning against All-Star reliever Tony Watson, overcoming a four-run deficit. They pulled out of a four-run deficit again on Saturday but couldnt finish it off. McCutchen has 20 career homers against Cincinnati, the most by any player in the majors since 2009. Hes hit six of them this season, including three during the first two games of the series. The Reds slipped to 7-3 on their 11-game homestand, remaining 1 1/2 games behind NL Central co-leaders Milwaukee and St. Louis. Cincinnati is 8-4 against the Pirates this season. Pittsburgh is 2-4 on a trip to St. Louis and Cincinnati. The Pirates gave up two game-ending homers in St. Louis and blew a four-run lead in the series opener, a 6-5 Reds win. The Reds got in position to win it with a pair of homers. Chris Heisey batted for Mike Leake in the sixth and hit a two-run shot off Charlie Morton. Todd Frazier -- who will participate in the All-Star home run derby next week -- completed the comeback with a three-run shot off Morton, who had given up a total of six homers coming into the game. NOTES: All-Star Johnny Cueto (9-6) starts the final game of the series for Cincinnati. The Pirates plan to activate left-hander Francisco Liriano (1-6) off the disabled list. He has recovered from a strained oblique. ... McCutchen has hit safely in 11 of the 12 games against Cincinnati this season, going 20-for-47 with four doubles, six homers and eight RBIs. ... The Reds optioned reliever Curtis Partch, who got the win on Friday night, to Triple-A Louisville and brought up INF Neftali Soto, giving them four position players available on the bench. ... It was Heiseys eighth career pinch-hit homer, his second this season. Ted Simmons Cardinals Jersey . Coach Randy Carlyle didnt know the severity of Bozaks injury. Bozak left the bench and went down the tunnel early in the second period, returned to play a handful of shifts and then did play in the third. Miles Mikolas Jersey . "I just think what it does for everybody in life is real simple," said Babcock early on Friday afternoon. "You dont give in. You just keep on keeping on. Is it going to go your way every time? No. But you choose your attitude and how you perform and how hard you dig in." Nearly four years to the day of the 2010 gold medal match in Vancouver, his team dug in with its best effort of these Olympics, snuffing out the high-powered Americans for another opportunity at gold. https://www.cheapcardinalsonline.com/434...-cardinals.html. DETROIT LIONS AT CHICAGO BEARS, 1:00 PM (ET) Detroit - G Rodney Austin, WR Ryan Broyles, DT Nick Fairley, QB Kellen Moore, DT Caraun Reid, CB Mohammed Seisay, DE Larry Webster Chicago - S Chris Conte, DT Brandon Dunn, QB David Fales, K Robbie Gould, CB Terrance Mitchell, OT Michael Ola, DE Trevor Scott GREEN BAY PACKERS AT TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS, 1:00 PM (ET) Green Bay - LB Carl Bradford, DT Bruce Gaston, C Garth Gerhart, CB Davon House, WR Jeff Janis, TE Justin Perillo, QB Scott Tolzien Tampa Bay - OT Anthony Collins, CB Isaiah Frey, WR Robert Herron, RB Mike James, WR Solomon Patton, FB/TE Evan Rodriguez, LB Lawrence Sidbury KANSAS CITY CHIEFS AT PITTSBURGH STEELERS, 1:00 PM (ET) Kansas City - WR Donnie Avery, CB Marcus Cooper, OT Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, OL Eric Kush, QB Aaron Murray, RB Charcandrick West, DT Nick Williams Pittsburgh - WR Justin Brown, DE Clifton Geathers, G Chris Hubbard, QB Landry Jones, S Troy Polamalu, TE Matt Spaeth, CB Ike Taylor MINNESOTA VIKINGS AT MIAMI DOLPHINS, 1:00 PM (ET) Minnesota - LB Anthony Barr, OT Carter Bykowski, DB Ahmad Dixon, OT Charlie Johnson, FB Zach Line, CB Shaun Prater, TE Kyle Rudolph Miami - G Nate Garner, WR Matt Hazel, S Don Jones, WR Rishard Matthews, LB Chris McCain, G Dallas Thomas, RB Daniel Thomas NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS AT NEW YORK JETS, 1:00 PM (ET) New England - CB Kyle Arrington, RB LeGarrette Blount, OL Dan Connolly, CB Alfonzo Dennard, OT Jordan Devey, WR Julian Edelman, RB James White NY Jets - DT T. Roger Maris Jersey . Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist and Martin Jones made just 17 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season as the Kings snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-0 victory over the lowly Oilers on Thursday. Wholesale Cardinals Jerseys . The thinking at the time was Clowney could have already been promised he would be selected first overall by the Houston Texans, therefore negating any need to meet with any other teams. The plot took another twist this week.SEATTLE - Jacob deGrom allowed five hits and a run in seven impressive innings, Lucas Duda hit a mammoth home run and the New York Mets beat the Seattle Mariners 3-1 Tuesday night. DeGrom (4-5) walked one and struck out seven to improve to 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA over his last six starts. Travis dArnaud drove in a run with a gift triple off Erasmo Ramirez (1-5), who was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma for the start, and scored on Ruben Tejadas soft single in the second inning to help New York end a three-game skid. Duda hit his 15th home run, a 446-foot drive off the second deck scoreboard in right field in the eighth. Jeurys Familia worked an easy eighth and Jenrry Mejia picked up the save — his 12th in 14 chances. Endy Chavez led off the bottom of the first with a single then deGrom retired the next 11 batters. With one out in the fifth, Willie Bloomquist broke through with a single to right. Dustin Ackley then doubled into the right-centre gap, scoring Bloomquist. Ackley advanced to third when Daniel Murphys relay to the plate sailed past the catcher but Ackley was left stranded. Ackley, who was 2 for 3, is hitting .377 in July after hitting just .214 in the first three months of the season. Ramirez went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked two and matched his career high with 10 strikeouts. He also hit two batters. It is his fifth straight loss. He has not won since April 1. Over his previous four startss — all no-decisions — Ramirez had a 0.dddddddddddd90 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 16 walks. Ramirez was recalled from Triple-A Tacoma before the game for his fourth stint with the big club. He likely will be sent back down after the game to make room for Wednesdays starter, Taijuan Walker. Duda gave the Mets a two-run cushion with his drive off the second-deck facade on a 3-1 pitch from Tom Wilhelmsen. NOTES: Walker was sent to Tacoma just before the All-Star break with an emphasis on working on his control. "I think hes better," Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He has worked out some things down there, from a mechanical standpoint." Another top prospect, LHP James Paxton, had a second rehab start for Tacoma Tuesday. He likely will get one more before a decision will be made on his status. . The Mariners, 53-47, have not had better than a .500 record after 100 games since they were 52-48 in 2009. . Chavez is 12 for 27 (.444) leading off. . Mets LHP Scott Rice, who made the big league roster last season after 14 years in the minors, will have elbow surgery Wednesday in New York to remove bone spurs in his left elbow. "For Scott, hes got to be very disappointed," manager Terry Collins said. "He spent 15 years in the minor leagues, finally get to the bigs, have success then have it squashed like he has." . Bartolo Colon, the Mets starter Wednesday, is 12-1 with a 2.10 ERA at Safeco Field. ' ' '