Cardinals head to third NLCS in row after Game 5 win over Pirates

ST. LOUIS – Nobody’s better than the St. Louis Cardinals when they can’t afford to lose.

Adam Wainwright went all the way on the mound and St. Louis got two-run homers from David Freese and Matt Adams to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 Wednesday night, advancing to the N.L. Championship Series for the third straight season.

Wainwright scattered eight hits in his second dominant win of the division series, coming through for the Cardinals in a winner-take-all Game 5. St. Louis gets to stay at home to open the NLCS against the well-rested Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.

“I wanted it bad. It’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been,” Wainwright said. “I don’t get a whole lot of nerves when I pitch. Before I pitched today, I was pretty nervous.”

By ending Pittsburgh’s storybook season, the Cardinals improved to 8-1 when facing postseason elimination the past three years. They also won Game 5 of the NL division series in Washington last year – even though Wainwright got rocked – and at Philadelphia in 2011.

Freese homered in the second inning off rookie Gerrit Cole, and Adams connected in the eighth against reliever Mark Melancon to make it 5-1. Pete Kozma added an RBI infield single, and Wainwright finished it off by striking out Pedro Alvarez with two on.

“I’m just so fired up for this team and this city right now,” Wainwright said. “Cardinal fans were rockin’ today and I’m just fired up to be here.”

Alvarez became the first player with an RBI in his first six postseason games on a fluke hit that caromed off first base in the seventh. But the Pirates, who ended a record streak of 20 consecutive losing seasons this year, were held to one run in each of the final two games of their first playoff appearance since 1992.

Despite a wild-card game win over Cincinnati, the Pirates haven’t won a postseason series since the 1979 World Series.