Pedro Alvarez (.227 – 15 HR – 44 RBI) belted his 15th home run of the season this afternoon with a grandslam in the 1st inning, crushing a 94 mph fastball off Cardinals Lance Lynn 432 feet to give the Pirates 4-0 lead. Alvarez has 2 home runs and 9 RBI’s in his last 9 at-bats and the Pirates are looking to improve to 42-35 with a win today in St. Louis. Alvarez now has 12 home runs in Day games, including 6 home runs, 14 RBI’s in his last 4 road day games. Alvarez is now 1 of 4 players in National League with 10 home runs on the road and leads all NL third basemen in home runs and ranks 2nd in the Majors among third basemen in homers