Cardinals 6, Pirates 1: Yadier Molina and Jhonny Peralta homered as St. Louis posted a road victory against Pittsburgh.

Molina hit a solo home run in the sixth and Peralta added a two-run blast in the ninth as the Cardinals evened the series at a game apiece heading into Sunday's rubber contest. Matt Carpenter reached base three times and scored twice for St. Louis, while Travis Snider had two of the six hits for Pittsburgh, all of which were singles.

St. Louis starter Joe Kelly (1-0) worked around six hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings, limiting the damage to one run. Francisco Liriano (0-1) started for Pittsburgh and surrendered four runs - three in the first inning - over six frames.

After pitching six shutout innings in his season debut, Liriano's scoreless run ended three batters into this one as Carpenter singled and Peralta walked in advance of Matt Holliday's run-scoring base hit. Allen Craig followed with a sacrifice fly and Molina and Matt Adams each tacked on hits with Adams' single to center plating Holliday to make it 3-0.

Liriano blanked St. Louis over the next four innings until Molina cracked his second homer of the season - a solo shot to left on an 0-2 pitch. Peralta's second blast of 2014 came against Jeanmar Gomez in the ninth, providing plenty of cushion for the Cardinals bullpen, which logged 3 2/3 hitless innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Carlos Martinez relieved Kelly in the sixth and escaped a jam before pitching around a leadoff walk in the seventh inning. Kevin Siegrist tossed a 1-2-3 eighth and Pat Neshek worked a perfect ninth. ... After hitting two home runs in Friday's contest, Pirates 3B Pedro Alvarez was walked three times in four plate appearances Saturday. ... Peralta has two home runs - and no other hits - in 18 at-bats this season.