ERST LESEN! » e our fans are as well. Were playing pretty goo

PITTSBURGH -- The St. Louis Cardinals were done in by a nemesis.Jung Ho Kang led off the eighth inning with a home run, leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 win over the Cardinals on Wednesday night to snap an eight-game losing streak and cost St. Louis a chance to sweep the three-game series.Kang hit a drive deep into the bullpens in left-center off rookie Alex Reyes (1-1) for his 17th homer and third in two games. It helped snap the Pirates longest skid since dropping 10 straight in 2011.The Cardinals are percentage points ahead of the New York Mets for the second NL wild card, and the Pirates drew within 4 1/2 games of St. Louis.Kang has hit eight of his 33 career home runs against the Cardinals, his most against any opponent, since coming to the major leagues prior to the 2015 season after starring in South Korea.Hes a tough out against everybody, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. The guys got some juice. He can put the ball in the seats. Some guys are dangerous and hes one of them.The third baseman returned from the disabled list Monday after missing 15 days with a sore left shoulder.I really, really reflected on myself and how much I really want to win and how much I really want to play baseball, Kang said of his time on the DL. I really spent good time thinking about that.Trevor Williams (1-0) allowed one unearned run in three innings for the win in his major league debut.Reyes gave up one run in 3 2/3 innings and also singled off Williams in the seventh for his first major league hit.Tony Watson worked a perfect ninth inning for his 11th save after blowing his previous two opportunities, including Tuesday night when he allowed three home runs in the ninth inning of a 9-7 loss.The Cardinals ended a streak of 25 consecutive games with a home run, a club record.Mike Leake went 4 1/3 innings in his first start for the Cardinals since Aug. 21 after being sidelined by the shingles virus. He gave up three runs, nine hits and a walk while striking out three.I wasnt locating as well as I know as I can, Leake said. Im sure being off a couple of weeks played a factor. Now Im back on track and ready for the next one.Matheny was happy with what he saw from Leake, who allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Gregory Polanco and Kang in the first inning when the Pirates sent seven men to the plate.He had a stressful first inning but then he got some momentum and pitched pretty well after that, Matheny said. Overall, I thought his stuff was good.Pirates starter Jameson Taillon pitched five innings. The rookie gave up two runs, six hits and a walk with five strikeouts.The Cardinals Yadier Molina scored in the sixth to make it 3-3. Molina reached second base when right fielder Adam Frazier dropped his fly ball, then scored on a single by Randal Grichuk.TRAINERS ROOMCardinals: LF Matt Holliday (broken left thumb) was cleared to resume baseball activities and is hopeful of returning before the end of the regular season. He has been on the disabled list since Aug. 12.UP NEXTCardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (10-11, 4.41 ERA), who has lost his last three starts, faces Milwaukee RHP Junior Guerra (7-3, 2.85) on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series.Axel Witsel Belgium Jersey . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Thibaut Courtois Belgium Jersey . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. http://www.soccerbelgiumteamonline.com/Thibaut-Courtois-UEFA-European-Belgium-Jersey/ . President of baseball operations Larry Beinfest was fired Friday after 12 years with the Marlins. The move came as the team neared the end of its third consecutive last-place season in the NL East. Vincent Kompany Belgium Jersey . Pedro scored from a pass by Lionel Messi in the 33rd minute and added two more goals in the 47th and 72nd after Valdes saved his second penalty in four days following his stop in Wednesdays 4-0 over Ajax in the Champions League. Adnan Januzaj Belgium Jersey . Self was acquired from the Buffalo Bandits in a trade for Alex Hill midway through last season, and made his debut in Rochester on March 16, 2013.ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Corey Graham was in the midst of discussing why its unfair to pin all the blame on the Bills secondary for giving up big plays, when the safety was informed how many completions of 50 yards or longer Buffalo has given up this season.Graham was stunned to learn its already happened seven times in nine games.Really? Thats terrible, the 10th-year player said, sitting at his locker in wide-eyed disbelief on Wednesday. Thats crazy.Its also unacceptable, Graham said, because defending deep passes shouldnt be difficult.This league is pretty simple as a defensive back: Keep the ball in front of you, he said. Its just guys have to focus on their technique, and when the balls in the air, youve got to make the play.The Bills havent made nearly enough plays, which is why coach Rex Ryan is seriously considering making changes at cornerback as Buffalo (4-5) comes out of its bye week off to play at Cincinnati (3-5-1) on Sunday.Offseason free-agent addition Corey White is competing with Ronald Darby to take over the starting spot opposite Stephon Gilmore. And rookie sixth-round draft pick Kevon Seymour is in line to replace Nickell Robey-Coleman for the No. 3 spot.Im tired of mistakes, Ryan said, foregoing what has traditionally been his player-friendly approach. Im not here to make friends. Im here to win.The seven completions of over 50 yards matches the number the Bills gave up in their two previous seasons combined. This years total already surpasses any season total Buffalos had during its 16-season playoff drought.Weve got to start making plays and making teams pay for throwing jump balls up, Ryan said. Im tired of seeing it. And Im sure our fans are as well. Were playing pretty good defense, but thats killing us.Its a concern that began in Buffalos season-opening 13-7 loss at Baltimore, when Joe Flacco hit Mike Wallace for a 66-yyard touchdown pass.dddddddddddd And the trend resurfaced over the past four games during which the Bills have given up five 50-plus-yard catches while failing to manage an interception.The final straw came in a 31-25 loss at Seattle on Nov. 7, when Ryan benched Darby shortly after the second-year starter gave up a 50-yard pass to Doug Baldwin on the Seahawks fifth play from scrimmage.Ryan said hes not particularly singling out Darby because theres plenty of blame to go around. And yet, he placed the onus on Darby to regain the teams confidence in him.Its just not his confidence, its about our confidence, Ryan said. We need Darby to play the way hes capable of playing. And if theres a reason hes not ... weve got to ask ourselves why its happening.Gilmores play has been inconsistent , too. He was burned several times in a 37-31 loss to the Jets in Week 2. And a miscommunication led to Chris Hogan beating Gilmore for a 53-yard TD catch in New Englands 41-25 win last month.The secondary has played without a key component since hard-hitting safety Aaron Williams sustained a season-ending neck injury at Miami on Oct. 23 -- a 28-25 loss, which prompted Buffalos three-game skid.And yet, this is not what Ryan was expecting from a position group that was the defenses strength a year ago, when Buffalos front seven had difficulty generating pass rush.This year, the struggles have been reversed. Buffalo has an NFL-leading 30 sacks, but ranks tied for 18th with just six interceptions -- four coming against Arizona.Tackle Kyle Williams pins the blame on the entire defense.Were all in this together, Williams said. We need to do better. Point blank.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '