Looking to secure their first series win since claiming a three-game set on the road against the Cincinnati Reds in the final week of May, the Cardinals received a go-ahead home run from a hitter who has heated up during their homestand and a bullpen effort that included scoreless outings in the final three frames of Thursday's series finale vs. the Pirates to earn a series victory for the first time in June.
Brendan Donovan, who started in left field and entered Thursday 7 for 19 (.368) in his past five games, connected on a solo home run in the sixth inning to lift the Cardinals to a 4-3 lead over the Pirates at Busch Stadium.
With a one-run lead to protect, Chris Roycroft, who secured the final out of the sixth inning, Matthew Liberatore, Ryan Fernandez and Andrew Kittredge combined to cover the final 3â…“ innings in the victory.
Kittredge's effort to complete a scoreless ninth inning gave him his first save as a Cardinal and the 16th of his career.
The win not only secured a series victory for the first time this month but also was ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ first series win over the Pirates since Sept. 9-11, 2022.
The win prevented what would've been a fourth consecutive series loss to the Pirates. That skid would have been the longest since ºüÀêÊÓƵ dropped six consecutive series to Pittsburgh from Sept. 18, 1991, to Sept. 15, 1992.
Donovan gets lead back
Shortly after the Cardinals saw their 3-0 lead vanish, Donovan wasted no time helping his club get ahead.
As Pirates starter Mitch Keller began his sixth inning of work and neared 80 pitches, Donovan’s patience put him in a 2-0 count against the righty who came into the start with an 8-3 record and a 3.16 ERA.
Donovan fouled off a cutter thrown high and in on the third pitch. He didn’t miss the next cutter thrown his way.
On the same pitch near the same part of the strike zone, Donovan pulled a fly ball to right field that sailed about four rows deep for a solo home run that gave the Cardinals the lead they needed to secure the series. The home run was Donovan's fifth of the year.
Lynn escapes 4th, gets hook in 5th
Having limited Pittsburgh to only a walk in his first three innings of work, Cardinals starting pitcher Lance Lynn began the fourth inning by retiring the first two batters he faced. Edward Olivares put the Pirates in the hit column with a single to right field and advanced to third when Rowdy Tellez delivered another two-out single in the next at-bat, presenting Lynn with his first traffic jam of the afternoon as Jared Triolo stepped to the plate.
Lynn began his encounter with Triolo by getting a swinging strike on his fastball and, after the count grew to 1-2, ended it by inducing another whiff on his fastball to strike out the Pittsburgh swatsmith and quiet the Pirates rally.
But an inning later, Lynn could not work his way out of trouble.
The righty walked Jack Suwinski to begin the fifth, allowed a single to Yasmani Grandal and loaded the bases on a walk to Michael A. Taylor. After a swinging strikeout against Ke’Bryan Hayes recorded the first out in the top of the fifth, Bryan Reynolds’ comeback grounder ricocheted off Lynn’s right leg and rolled slowly back toward home plate. Lynn fielded the grounder and threw down to first base, but the effort was to no avail as Reynolds beat the throw for an RBI single that plated Pittsburgh’s first run.
With left-handed reliever John King warming, the bases loaded and left-handed-hitting Oneil Cruz due up, manager Oliver Marmol went to his bullpen and removed Lynn he after completed 4â…“ innings on 82 pitches (46 strikes).
King’s first pitch to Cruz was hit to left field for a two-run double that tied the game at three runs apiece. The lefty got out of the inning by inducing a double play on a ground out from Olivares in the next at-bat.
Goldschmidt opens scoring; Pages adds on
After shortstop Masyn Winn tripled with one out in the third inning and Alec Burleson struck out on the three pitches in the next at-bat, Paul Goldschmidt capitalized on the scoring opportunity by hitting his first home run since May 27.
Down 1-2 in the count to Pirates starter Keller, Goldschmidt took the next two pitches he saw for balls to get the count full before sending Keller’s 3-2 slider over the center field wall for a two-run homer that put the Cardinals up 2-0 over Pittsburgh.
An inning later, it was rookie catcher Pedro Pages who provided a two-out, RBI hit.
Pages, who entered Thursday’s series finale with two hits and five RBIs in 25 at-bats to begin his big league career, singled to right field to score Jose Fermin from third base after Fermin tripled with two outs in the fourth.
Moving up Cardinals ranks
Before he exited his start in the fifth inning, Lynn moved up the Cardinals’ all-time strikeouts list and surpassed Matt Morris for sole possession of sixth place.
Lynn’s five strikeouts against the Pirates — the club he’s faced the most in his time as a big leaguer — gave him 987 in his Cardinals career, which has spanned seven seasons. The righty, who debuted with the Cardinals in 2011, departed as a free agent after the 2017 season and reunited with the club this past November, trails Bob Forsch (1,079 strikeouts) for fifth all time.
Sports columnists Ben Frederickson and Jeff Gordon discuss a Cardinals uptick in defensive miscues and how it's threatening forward progress.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ Cardinals' Brendan Donovan (33) is congratulated by third base coach Ron 'Pop' Warner (75) after Donovan hits a home run off of Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Mitch Keller (23) during the sixth inning of a game Thursday, June 13, 2024, at Busch Stadium in ºüÀêÊÓƵ. Photo by Christine Tannous, ctannous@post-dispatch.com