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PITTSBURGH -- Michael Wacha heard the chants. Then again, when 40,000 people clad in black scream your name relentlessly for the better part of three hours, its kind of hard to miss. The goal was to rattle the St. Louis rookie, remind him that 22-year-old pitchers arent built to withstand the pressure of an elimination game. One problem. Wacha doesnt really do rattled. He doesnt do pressure, either. The louder PNC Park grew, the more unhittable Wacha became. "I kind of like it," Wacha said. "It kind of gives me adrenalin. I kind of use it in my favour." And the Pittsburgh Pirates -- not to mention anyone else he might face in the post-season -- "kind of" need to get used to it. Wacha took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning and the Cardinals showed off their October poise, edging the Pirates 2-1 Monday to force a winner-take-all Game 5 in the NL division series. St. Louis is 7-1 over the last three years with its season on the line. "I think you take high talent and high character people that are motivated and support each other, and they dont give up," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. "Thats a tough combination." One the Pirates are still trying to master. Pedro Alvarez hit his third home run of the series, connecting with one out in the eighth for Pittsburghs only hit in Game 4. It wasnt enough for the Pirates to advance to the NL championship series for the first time in 21 years. "I guess thats why we play five," star centre-fielder Andrew McCutchen said. "Well be ready for the fifth one." The Pirates werent quite ready for the fourth one, not with the way Wacha was dealing. He walked two and struck out nine before giving way to the bullpen in the eighth. Matt Hollidays two-run homer off Charlie Morton in the sixth was all the offence required on a day the Cardinals tossed the first one-hitter in the clubs lengthy post-season history. Trevor Rosenthal worked around a two-out walk in the ninth, retiring McCutchen on a popup to shallow centre field for his first post-season save. "It was a good pitch for him," McCutchen said. "I wish it got a little more of the barrel. It would have been a great story." Instead, a taut series will head back to Busch Stadium. Game 5 will be Wednesday, with ace Adam Wainwright starting for the NL Central champion Cardinals and rookie Gerrit Cole going for the wild-card Pirates. Both pitchers won last week in the NLDS. The Cardinals finished with only three hits, and that was enough. Holliday got two of them, including his homer in the sixth after Morton walked big-hitting Carlos Beltran to start the inning. "You could go back and look at pitches over and over again and second guess yourself," Morton said. "I dont know where that pitch was. It was outer third somewhere, thigh-down and he went out and got it, hes strong." So was the 6-foot-6 kid on the one, the one barely a year removed from a standout college career at Texas A&M. Wacha didnt permit a runner until walking Russell Martin leading off the sixth. Wacha nearly no-hit the Washington Nationals in his last start on Sept. 24, surrendering only an infield single by Ryan Zimmerman with two outs in the ninth. Working so quickly the Pirates never had time to get settled, he breezed through Pittsburghs revamped lineup like he was in extended spring training. Mixing his fastball and changeup masterfully, Wacha overwhelmed the Pirates from the moment he stepped onto the mound. Alvarez got the fans at PNC Park roaring with his homer, and Wacha followed by walking Martin on four pitches. Carlos Martinez relieved and Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina made a key play, throwing out pinch-runner Josh Harrison after a botched hit-and-run attempt. Martinez struck out Jose Tabata to end the eighth, and Rosenthal took over to begin the ninth. Neil Walker drew a two-out walk before McCutchen made the final out. "Thats what its all about," Rosenthal said. "Thats what you dream of, you dream of two outs in the bottom of the ninth, you know ... bases loaded, the best hitter up, and getting out of that spot." One the Cardinals rarely found themselves in on a day Wacha showed hes just a big a part of his teams present as he is its megawatt future. McCutchen came into the game hitting .538 in the post-season but looked at a 97 mph fastball for strike three in the first. Marlon Byrd, Pittsburghs most consistent player since being acquired from the Mets in late August, watched a full-count heater in the second that sent him walking back to the dugout in disbelief. It was a look repeated time and again by Byrd and the rest of his baffled teammates. Wacha struck out five of the first seven batters. "He went out and hit his spots and it seemed like everything we were hitting, we were just missing, just missing," McCutchen said. Martin remained Pittsburghs lone baserunner until the eighth. Wacha fell behind 3-1 and Alvarez hit a 93 mph fastball at the knees onto the concourse in right-centre. The jolt, however, faded when Molina nailed Harrison at second minutes later to set up a 24th -- and final -- meeting between two teams that have been shadowing each other all summer and into the fall. NOTES: Wacha was the 19th overall pick in the 2012 draft. He earned his first major league win on June 11. ... A.J. Burnett pitched Game 1 for Pittsburgh, but manager Clint Hurdle picked Cole to move ahead and start Game 5. Moses Malone Jersey .ca Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen, NFL Editor Ben Fisher, and Isaac Owusu discuss three hot fantasy football topics. Joel Embiid Jersey . 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Nadal exited in the first round, a year after bowing out in the second.PRETORIA, South Africa -- Using witness accounts of a panicked nighttime phone call from Oscar Pistorius begging for help and his desperate pleas for Reeva Steenkamp to stay alive, the defence at his murder trial tried to reinforce its case Monday that the double-amputee Olympian fatally shot his girlfriend in a tragic error of judgment. Johan Stander and his daughter Carice Viljoen, neighbours and friends of Pistorius, testified that they were at the runners villa soon after the shooting on Feb. 14, 2013 and that Pistorius was praying, trying to help Steenkamp breathe and urging her to live. Viljoen testified that Pistorius was saying to Steenkamp as she lay on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds: "Stay with me, my love, stay with me." The world-famous disabled runner had shot four times through a toilet cubicle door with his 9 mm pistol minutes earlier, hitting Steenkamp in the hip, arm and head. He claims he thought she was a dangerous intruder in the cubicle in his darkened bathroom. Prosecutors maintain Pistorius, 27, is lying about the perceived trespasser, and his story is designed to cover up that he killed the 29-year-old model intentionally in the midst of a heated argument. The first amputee to run at the Olympics in 2012, Pistorius faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of a premeditated murder charge. The testimonies from the neighbours began the seventh week of proceedings in the globally televised trial, which resumed after a two-week recess. Stander testified that Pistorius phoned him at around 3:19 a.m. -- about two minutes after the shooting. Pistorius told him he had thought Steenkamp was an intruder and shot her, Stander testified, and Stander and his daughter went to Pistorius house after the world-famous runner pleaded for him to come and help. "I saw the truth there that morning. I saw it and I feel it," Stander testified, saying he believed that the shooting was accidental because of Pistorius desperation when they found him carrying a bloodied Steenkamp downstairs from the upstairs bathroom. Pistorius was "really crying. He was in pain," Stander said. Standers own voice shook at one point and he became emotional as he described Pistorius state. "He was torn apart, broken, desperate, pleading," Stander said. "Its difficult really to describe." The defence was trying to underline its scenario that Pistorius was emotionally distressed after shooting Steenkamp by mistake.dddddddddddd Pistorius lawyers were also trying to regain some momentum after chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel put Pistorius under intense pressure during the runners own testimony, which appeared to show some inconsistencies in his story. The prosecution has preferred to focus on events before the killing -- and not Pistorius demeanour afterward -- to try and show that his version is a fabrication, including that he never attempted to locate Steenkamp despite knowing she was awake before walking to the bathroom on his stumps and firing through the toilet door. Pistorius slumped forward in the Pretoria courtroom Monday with his head in his hands as details of what may have been Steenkamps last moments alive were discussed. Cross-examining Stander, Nel questioned if he was a good friend of Pistorius and therefore trying to "assist" the defence. Stander said he had known Pistorius since 2009 and looked after his home and dogs when he was away. Nel asked if the friendship led him to back Pistorius story. Stander said he also knew Steenkamp. "Im here to give the truth," Stander said. "And I think Ive given the truth, what I saw that morning." Nels manner in cross-examining both Stander and Viljoen was relatively subdued in contrast to his aggressive questioning during his five-day questioning of Pistorius, and of two expert witnesses for the defence. Stander earlier recounted the telephone call from Pistorius that woke him up in the pre-dawn hours of Valentines Day. "He (Pistorius) said on the call, Johan, please, please, please come to my house. Please. I shot Reeva. I thought she was an intruder. Please come quick," Stander said. Viljoen testified that when they arrived at the house, Pistorius begged her to help him get Steenkamp into a car so they could take her to a hospital. Viljoen said she urged Pistorius to "just put her down" so they could try and stop the bleeding. As Viljoen spoke, her voice broke and she became tearful. "I just saw blood everywhere," she said. Her father stepped outside to telephone an ambulance, Viljoen said, and she went upstairs to fetch towels to stop the bleeding. Pistorius was pleading for Steenkamp to stay alive, she said. "He kept on egging Reeva to just stay with him," she testified. 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