Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals
· Major League Baseball
5 - 4
Esmerlyn Valdez and Jared Triolo homer in Pirates' 5-4 win over Cardinals
Braxton Ashcraft (14-5) held St. Louis without an extra-base hit over five innings to become the first Pirates pitcher since 2018 (Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams) to reach 14 wins. He allowed two runs on six hits, struck out three and walked one.
In the second inning, Valdez hit a two-run home run off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore (5-13) that stayed just inside the right-field foul pole. Triolo drilled a 412-foot blast into the left-field stands in the fifth inning to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-0.
Thomas Saggese singled three times and scored twice. He moved into the St. Louis lineup after infielder JJ Wetherholt was placed on the 10-day injured list Sunday with right wrist tendinitis.
Alec Burleson achieved his first 100 RBI season when he and Iván Herrera had back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs in the fifth inning.
Herrera also had an RBI double in the seventh to pull St. Louis within 5-4. Yohan Ramirez got Nolan Gorman to fly out to end that threat with runners on second and third.
Mason Montgomery earned his seventh save with a spotless ninth.
Liberatore struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings while throwing a career-high 107 pitches. He gave up four runs on six hits and a pair of walks.
The Pirates got an unearned run in the third when Ramón Urías dropped Lowe's two-out popup, allowing Oneil Cruz to score.
St. Louis: The Cardinals have not announced their rotation for a three-game series against Los Angeles that starts Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. LHP Eric Lauer (8-6, 4.78 ERA) goes for LA in the opener.
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Scoring Summary
 |
9th Inning | Burleson grounded out to second. |
|
9th Inning | Herrera popped out to first. |
|
9th Inning | Báez grounded out to third. |
 |
9th Inning | Montgomery relieved Weaver |
|
9th Inning | Báez hit for Torres |
|
9th Inning | Flores Jr. struck out swinging. |
Statistics
 PIT |
 STL |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Games Played | 1 |
| 1 | Team Games Played | 1 |
| 0 | Hit By Pitch | 0 |
| 7 | Ground Balls | 12 |
| 15 | Strikeouts | 6 |
| 4 | Runs Batted In | 4 |
| 0 | Sacrifice Hit | 0 |
| 8 | Hits | 9 |
| 2 | Stolen Bases | 2 |
| 4 | Walks | 3 |
| 0 | Catcher Interference | 0 |
| 5 | Runs | 4 |
| 0 | Ground Into Double Play | 0 |
| 0 | Sacrifice Flies | 1 |
| 36 | At Bats | 35 |
| 2 | Home Runs | 0 |
| 0 | Grand Slam Home Runs | 0 |
| 16 | Runners Left On Base | 16 |
| 0 | Triples | 0 |
| 1 | Game Winning RBIs | 0 |
| 0 | Intentional Walks | 0 |
| 2 | Doubles | 1 |
| 14 | Fly Balls | 18 |
| 0 | Caught Stealing | 0 |
| 172 | Pitches | 125 |
| 0 | Games Started | 0 |
| 0 | Pinch At Bats | 1 |
| 0 | Pinch Hits | 0 |
| 0.0 | Player Rating | 0.0 |
| 1 | Is Qualified | 1 |
| 1 | Is Qualified In Steals | 1 |
| 16 | Total Bases | 10 |
| 40 | Plate Appearances | 39 |
| 324.0 | Projected Home Runs | 0.0 |
| 4 | Extra Base Hits | 1 |
| 5.4 | Runs Created | 3.8 |
| .222 | Batting Average | .257 |
| .000 | Pinch Hit Average | .000 |
| .444 | Slugging Percentage | .286 |
| .389 | Secondary Average | .171 |
| .300 | On Base Percentage | .308 |
| .744 | OBP Pct + SLG Pct | .593 |
| 0.5 | Ground To Fly Ball Ratio | 0.7 |
| 5.2 | Runs Created Per 27 Outs | 3.8 |
| 38.0 | Batter Rating | 29.0 |
| 18.0 | At Bats Per Home Run | 0.0 |
| 1.00 | Stolen Base Percentage | 1.00 |
| 4.30 | Pitches Per Plate Appearance | 3.21 |
| .222 | Isolated Power | .029 |
| 0.27 | Walk To Strikeout Ratio | 0.50 |
| .100 | Walks Per Plate Appearance | .077 |
| .167 | Secondary Average Minus Batting Average | -.086 |
| 9.0 | Runs Produced | 8.0 |
| 0.8 | Runs Ratio | 1.0 |
| 0.5 | Patience Ratio | 0.3 |
| 0.3 | Balls In Play Average | 0.3 |
| 82.8 | MLB Rating | 79.5 |
| 0.0 | Offensive Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
| 0.0 | Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
Game Information
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Attendance: 23,459 | Capacity:
2026 National League Central Standings
| TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Milwaukee |
- | 58 | W3 | 0.6282051 | 98 |
 Chicago |
11 | 69 | W2 | 0.5576923 | 87 |
| Pittsburgh |
19 | 77 | W4 | 0.50641024 | 79 |
| St. Louis |
22 | 80 | W1 | 0.4871795 | 76 |
 Cincinnati |
26 | 84 | L2 | 0.46153846 | 72 |