Peter Diana, Post-Gazette St. Louis' So Taguchi slides into home in the fifth inning with what turned out to be the difference in the Cardinals' 2-=1 win last night at PNC Park. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Pirates Notebook: Randa starts at third in his return Pirates fans enjoy preview of All-Star Game's FanFest Pirates Q&A with Dejan Kovacevic Game Statistics Provided by Forecaster Pirates vs. Giants box score Game play-by-play

Oliver Perez probably ensured Kip Wells will have at least two more rehabilitation starts with an all-for-naught performance in the Pirates' 2-1 loss to St. Louis last night at PNC Park.

The Pirates tried to get Perez off the hook in the ninth inning against Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen.

Held to three hits through eight innings -- and no hits since the third -- the Pirates got a single from Joe Randa and a double by Freddy Sanchez to plant runners on second and third with one out.

Craig Wilson's sacrifice fly produced the run, but Isringhausen struck out Ronny Paulino to end it and drop the Pirates to 7-19 in one-run games.

Pitching against the backdrop of Wells' impending return, Perez allowed seven hits, a walk and two runs in seven strong innings. That was two more innings than he amassed in his two previous starts -- three innings against San Diego June 2 and two at Colorado last Tuesday.

Those two no-shows led to speculation -- again -- that Perez was about to be shunted to Class AAA Indianapolis.

Wells, who had surgery to repair a vein in his right shoulder March 6, made his first minor-league rehabilitation start Saturday with Class A Lynchburg. He pitched six scoreless innings.

"That he pitched six scoreless innings is pretty significant in and of itself," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said.

Wells threw 74 pitches, allowed three hits and maintained his velocity throughout.

"It goes without saying how encouraging that was," Tracy said.

Also encouraging was Wells' solid bullpen session Monday with pitching coach Jim Colborn supervising.

Wells is scheduled to make his second rehab start for Class AA Altoona against visiting Harrisburg tomorrow night. His situation will be re-evaluated Friday.

He is scheduled to make a start for Indianapolis Tuesday at Buffalo.

"And maybe another start [for Indianapolis after that], depending on how things go," general manager Dave Littlefield said. "We don't have a timetable set in stone [for Wells' return to the rotation]."

There was some speculation before the game last night that a third consecutive non-competitive start by Perez might influence the Pirates' thinking about Wells' timetable and move up his return to Tuesday night in Kansas City -- with Perez taking his turn with Indianapolis.

Perez, however, seems to have bought himself some time.

"Oliver was terrific," Tracy said. "He gave us a great chance to be involved. He threw a ton of strikes, pitched ahead. Hopefully, this is the start of a string of performances like the one we witnessed [last night]."

Perez threw first-pitch strikes to 17 of the 28 batters he faced. Overall, he threw 77 strikes in 110 pitches.

"I'm happy," said Perez, who threw his split-finger fastball more frequently last night. "I threw all my pitches. I threw good."

Perez zipped through the Cardinals over the first three innings, allowing only a two-out single to Scott Rolen in the first. He had a tough fourth, but crisis intervention by Paulino kept damage to a minimum.

Rolen flared a one-out double over first. Juan Encarnacion's single to center gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. Jim Edmonds bounced a single to right, moving Encarnacion to second.

Perez thought a 1-2 pitch to Yadier Molina was a strike, but plate umpire Mike Winters ruled it inside. That seemed to upset Perez and, when Molina followed with a bases-loading single to right, his mood didn't improve.

Paulino kept calming down Perez through a six-pitch at-bat by Chris Duncan that ended with the rookie waving badly at a 3-2 pitch that was low and outside.

"[Paulino] has a sixth sense of recognizing that," Tracy said of the catcher's cognizance of looming trouble. "He put [Perez'] focus right back where it needed to be."

Perez finished the inning by getting Hector Luna to line to left.

Perez almost got through the fifth unscathed, but he walked So Taguchi on a 3-2 pitch. Moments later, Rolen, hitting .416 (37 for 89) with 22 RBIs in his past 24 games, lined a double into the left-field corner. It appeared Jack Wilson had a play at the plate, but he didn't handle the relay from Jason Bay cleanly. That allowed Taguchi to score unchallenged.

Perez yielded a leadoff single to Encarnacion in the sixth, then finished his rotation-saving gem by retiring the next six batters.

The Pirates, however, did nothing against Chris Carpenter, who struck out a career-high 13 in his seven innings and improved to 8-1 against the Pirates.