Pressure is on Michael Wacha with Cardinals on brink of elimination

Despite Carlos Beltran's best efforts to be a one-man wrecking crew, the Cardinals couldn't overcome the Pirate in game three and now find themselves in a 1-2 hole.  Twice the Cards came back from deficits to tie the game, the first time on a two-run single by Beltran in the 5th and the second time on a solo homer by Beltran in the 8th, but the Pirates had all the answers in a 5-3 victory.

Now the Cardinals face elimination and now turn to Michael Wacha to save the team from elimination.

That's a lot of pressure to put on a rookie, especially one with just 64.2 innings of major league experience.

The Cardinals are hoping that Wacha can come through, just as Pirates rookie Gerrit Cole did in game 2.  

I was afraid that the Cardinals would find themselves in a hole heading into game 4 after losing game two.  Francisco Liriano has been a Cardinal killer all year and I just did not have a good feeling about this game.

The Cards certainly put up a fight and made things interesting, but couldn't finish the job.

Now we get to see what Wacha is made of.  He seems capable of shutting down the Pirates, as he was outstanding down the stretch, including 8.2 no-hit innings in his last start of the regular season, but this will be the biggest stage of his young career.

Not the most ideal situation for the Cardinals, but if anyone can do it, Wacha can.