ST. LOUIS -- Francisco Liriano wasnt feeling well. First came a nosebleed, then the Pirates pitcher felt dizzy at the plate before flying out to end the second inning. Liriano was getting hooked up to an IV to deal with flu-like symptoms when the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen stepped up big-time in a 6-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday that snapped a four-game losing streak. Waiting to be taken out in the third inning, the lefty was bent over, hands on his knees. "I just feel dizzy, weak and dizzy," Liriano said after the game. "I dont know. I just feel sick." Gaby Sanchez had two RBIs in a four-run fourth inning and five relievers combined to work seven strong innings, with key outs from rookie Stolmy Pimentel and Jared Hughes against Yadier Molina. "Pimentel pitched as big an inning as weve had pitched for us all year in the third," manager Clint Hurdle said. "You had 40-plus on their feet, a 3-2 count on Molina, on jersey day. "To get the swing and miss and then carry it deeper, a big-time push from Stolmy." Matt Holliday had an RBI double for the Cardinals, who have mustered five runs in their last six games. They got three hits and a run after Liriano left and got beat by an over-shifted defence, too, when Matt Adams lined out to shortstop Jordy Mercer stationed right behind the second-base bag with a man on third in the seventh. "Were just not clicking," said leadoff man Matt Carpenter, who was 0 for 3 with two walks. "Were having good at-bats, guys are competing, but stuff just isnt falling in for us. "Its just the way its going right now." Molina was a bust on his jersey giveaway day, striking out with the bases loaded to end the third against Pimentel (2-0) and popping out with runners on second and third to end the fifth against Hughes. He entered batting .431 during a 15-game hitting streak. Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata each added an RBI off Tyler Lyons (0-2) in the fourth, with the first four runners reaching safely after the lefty opened with three perfect innings. Tabata totalled three hits and is a career .345 hitter at Busch Stadium. "He continues to find a way to find hits in this ballpark," Hurdle said. "Hes really been a solid offensive ballplayer for us here." The Pirates have scored seven runs while Liriano was in the game in his six starts. They jumped into gear the inning after the lefty was taken out en route to just their third win in their last 10 games. "That one inning obviously changes the whole day," Lyons said. "The one inning, thats a killer." Hurdle said there were no health concerns at the start of the game and noted, "the first two innings were pretty crisp and clean." "It just snowballed on him," the manager added. Pittsburgh also has struggled offensively, totalling four runs during its losing streak, and got shut out 1-0 in the series opener Friday. "We got some key hits that we havent been getting," Gaby Sanchez said. "We were finally able to put something together and get some runs across. It was good to get the lead and stay ahead." Liriano walked Lyons to start the third and was behind 3-0 against leadoff man Matt Carpenter before meeting with a trainer on the mound, and then departing. Tony Sanchez added a two-run single in the ninth off Eric Fornatoro after striking out his first three at-bats. NOTES: Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright (4-1, 1.46) is set to work the finale against Edinson Volquez (1-1, 1.93) after tweaking his right knee in his last start. ... Adams made an outstanding diving catch at 1B to rob Pimentel of an opposite-field line drive hit in the fifth. ... Jhonny Peralta hit his 300th career double off Justin Wilson in the seventh. ... Allen Craig singled in four trips and is 1 for 18 against the Pirates this year. NMD Fake . -- Theres been so much talk about Mike Moustakas at the plate that the third baseman ignored the conversation Wednesday -- even after doing something positive. NMD On Sale .C. -- The Bobcats announced theyve signed centre Justin Hamilton to a 10-day contract. https://www.cheapnmdoutlet.com/. Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., were third with 210.84 points. Teammates Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto were fourth. Duhamel and Radford, who were seventh at the Sochi Olympics, also won bronze at last years world championships in London, Ont. NMD Replica . -- Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, shot a 2-under 69 on Tuesday to finish first in stroke-play qualifying at the Womens U. NMD Store . The alley-oop looked easy -- just like everything else after halftime for the Miami Heat. James scored 32 points, Wade added 22 points and eight assists, and the Heat trailed by 11 early in the second half before running away to a 107-88 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A 16-driver championship field that would be whittled down to create a winner-take-all season finale is among radical changes reportedly being considered by NASCAR. NASCAR chairman Brian France has repeatedly said he wants to place a greater emphasis on winning, and hes never ruled out tinkering with the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format in an effort to create the "Game 7 moments" he covets. The Charlotte Observer first reported Friday night a possible overhaul to the Chase format that France first introduced in 2004 and has made periodic changes to several times since. Citing anonymous sources, The Observer outlined three major changes beginning with expanding the field from 12 drivers to 16 -- meaning a win during the "regular season" would virtually guarantee a driver a spot in the field. Once the field is set, The Observer said NASCAR is considering eliminations during the 10-race Chase. The field would be cut after the third, sixth and ninth races. The proposed eliminations would drop the lowest four drivers from title contention after the third, sixth and ninth races, leaving four drivers eligible for a "winner-take-all" race in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The four remaining drivers would go into Homestead with their points reset and tied in the standings, The Observer said. A statement from NASCAR chief communications officer Brett Jewkes was non-committal on The Observer report. "NASCAR has begun the process of briefing key industry stakeholders on potential concepts to evolve its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship format," Jewkes said. "This dialogue is the final phase of a multi-year process that has included the review of extensive fan research, partner and industry feedback and other data-driven insights. NASCAR has no plans to comment further until the stakeholder discussions are complete. We hope to announce any potential changes for the 2014 season to our media and fans very soon." But driver Denny Hamlin posted a series of Tweets on Saturday afternoon that supported the format if NASCAR ultimately moves forward with the changes. NASCAR is expected to officially outline any changes later this month. "This points system change is going to be a really good thing. Trust in it and watch how exciting each chase race is going to be," Hamlin posted. Hamlin also Tweeted that every Chase race will now be as exciting as the September race at Richmond, which is the final race to set the Chase field. He also responded to two fans who criticized the format. One arggued it was "artificially construed excitement" instead of the traditional consistency that NASCAR used for decades in crowning its champion.dddddddddddd "Consistency will keep you up top," Hamlin replied. Hamlin received support from 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski, who replied on Twitter to him that he also liked the reported new format. "Guess we may be in the minority here," Keselowski said. NASCAR has been working feverishly behind the scenes to improve its on-track product, particularly at 1.5-mile tracks, and at least some changes are expected to the points system to meet Frances desire to put a greater emphasis on winning. France was thrilled with the finish of the March race at California, where feuding drivers Hamlin and Joey Logano relentlessly raced for the win. The two ended up wrecking -- Hamlin ended up with a broken bone in his back that sidelined him for more than a month -- and Kyle Busch slid through the carnage for the victory as a furious Tony Stewart nearly came to blows with Logano on pit road. Its that kind of competitiveness, compelling action and drama that France seeks every week. Despite introducing The Chase in 2004, NASCAR has failed to create many of those breathtaking "Game 7" moments in the finale. The debut was successful as Kurt Busch beat Jimmie Johnson for the title by eight points, and five drivers went into the 2005 finale mathematically eligible to win the championship. Then Jimmie Johnson reeled off five consecutive championships, snapped only by Tony Stewarts race-winning, championship-deciding showing in the 2011 finale. Keselowski won easily in 2012 when Johnson was felled by mechanical problems, and it was Johnson, again, in an easy Sunday drive for win No. 6 in November. So a shake up to the system wouldnt be unexpected. But it may not necessarily look like what The Observer reported -- the newspaper was clear the format is only being considered -- because its not unlike NASCAR to float ideas to gauge reaction. For example, NASCAR officials met in October with drivers to discuss an overhaul to qualifying procedures. Among the "potential" changes discussed that day was road course-style qualifying everywhere but Daytona and Talladega. NASCAR said it was considering a 60-minute drafting session for Daytona and Talladega qualifying. In reality, cars will qualify as usual next month at Daytona while NASCAR is now apparently considering three rounds of "knockout style" qualifying -- similar to what Formula One and IndyCar use -- everywhere else but Talladega. ' ' '