Cardinals’ Comeback Falls Short in 5-4 Loss to Pirates
The Cardinal Chronicle Cardinals’ Comeback Falls Short in 5-4 Loss to Pirates
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur
ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals spent most of Sunday afternoon trying to overcome an early four-run deficit, but their comeback ended three outs short.
Pittsburgh defeated St. Louis 5-4 at Busch Stadium, taking two of three games in the weekend series and dropping the Cardinals to 68-70.
The Cardinals pulled within one run in the seventh inning but went down in order against Mason Montgomery in the ninth. Joshua Báez grounded out, Iván Herrera popped out and Alec Burleson grounded out to end the game.
Matthew Liberatore struck out nine over 5⅔ innings, but two home runs and a defensive mistake helped Pittsburgh build a 4-0 lead. The left-hander allowed six hits and four runs, three earned, with two walks.
Esmerlyn Valdez opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the second inning. Oneil Cruz scored on Ramón Urías’ fielding error in the third, and Jared Triolo made it 4-0 with a solo homer in the fifth.
St. Louis finally got to Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft in the bottom of the fifth. Thomas Saggese and Bryan Torres opened the inning with consecutive singles before Iván Herrera drove in Saggese with a base hit to center. Alec Burleson followed with an RBI single, scoring Torres and cutting the deficit to 4-2.
The RBI was Burleson’s 100th of the season, giving the Cardinals their first 100-RBI player since Nolan Arenado drove in 103 runs in 2022.
The Pirates restored a three-run advantage against Luis Gastelum in the seventh. Cruz walked, Rafael Flores Jr. followed with another walk and Brandon Lowe delivered a two-out RBI single.
The Cardinals answered again in the bottom half. Urías walked, Saggese singled and Torres brought home Urías with a sacrifice fly. Herrera then doubled home Saggese, pulling St. Louis within 5-4.
With Herrera representing the tying run at second, Yohan Ramírez retired Burleson to end the inning. The Cardinals managed only one more hit—a José Fermín single in the eighth—and never put another runner in scoring position.
Herrera went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Saggese finished 3-for-4 and scored twice, while Torres reached base three times with two hits, a walk and an RBI. However, Jordan Walker, Nolan Gorman and Nathan Church combined to go 0-for-12.
Ashcraft earned the victory after allowing two runs on six hits over five innings. Montgomery worked a clean ninth for the save.
Gordon Graceffo kept the Cardinals within striking distance by pitching two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. St. Louis pitching recorded 15 strikeouts, but the early damage proved too much to overcome.
The Cardinals finished with nine hits but left eight runners on base.
After an off day Monday, St. Louis opens a road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. The Cardinals have not announced their starting pitcher, while Eric Lauer is scheduled to start for Los Angeles.
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Photo Credit: Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB