Tommy Edman’s RBI single in the fourth inning proved the difference Saturday in the visiting St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Paul Goldschmidt was 4-for-5 with a two-run double and Edmundo Sosa added an RBI single for the Cardinals, who have won two straight.
St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore, 22, gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, with three strikeouts and two walks in his major league debut.
Drew VerHagen (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings and Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth for his second save.
Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run inside-the-park homer and Yoshi Tsutsugo had an RBI double for the Pirates, who have lost four of five.
Pittsburgh starter Jose Quintana (1-2) entered the game with a 13-inning scoreless streak but allowed five runs, two of them earned, and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings, with four strikeouts and one walk.
The Cardinals pulled outfielder Dylan Carlson before the bottom of the third because of left hamstring tightness.
In the top of the second, Juan Yepez walked and Carlson singled. Yadier Molina reached on third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes’ fielding error, allowing Yepez to score. Sosa knocked in Carlson with a single to make it 2-0.
Two outs later, Goldschmidt doubled to drive in Molina and Sosa for a 4-0 Cardinals lead.
Pittsburgh got a couple back in the bottom of the second. Ben Gamel walked and went to third on Diego Castillo’s double. Gamel scored on a Liberatore wild pitch and Tsutsugo doubled to drive in Castillo and cut it to 4-2.
In the fourth, Corey Dickerson doubled with two outs and scored on Edman’s single to push St. Louis’ lead to 5-2.
With two outs in the fifth, Hayes singled to left. Reynolds blasted a ball off the wall in left that ricocheted toward center along the warning track. Hayes and Reynolds hustled home, giving Reynolds his fifth homer and the first inside-the-park homer at PNC Park since Pittsburgh’s Pedro Alvarez hit one Sept. 13, 2013.
That narrowed it to 5-4.
–Field Level Media
