Pirates struggle to score against Cardinals, who clinch season series with win

The Pittsburgh Pirates got eight hits, including three by rookie second baseman Nick Yorke, but continued to struggle to score against the St. Louis Cardinals.

It cost them the season series against their NL Central rival.

Rookie Jordan Walker hit the go-ahead home run with a solo shot in the fourth inning to boost the Cardinals to a 3-1 win over the Pirates on Tuesday night at Busch Stadium.

It was the seventh win by the Cardinals (76-75) in 11 games against the Pirates (71-80), clinching the season series with two games remaining.

It marked the fourth consecutive year and fifth time in the past six seasons that the Pirates have lost at least 80 games, with the lone exception being their 19-41 mark in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Pirates haven’t had a winning record since 2018, when they finished 82-79 and in fourth place in the NL Central.

Pirates lefty Bailey Falter (8-8) allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 5⅔ innings and got out of jams in the first and third innings by getting the Cardinals to ground into a pair of 5-4-3 double plays. Falter got twice as many groundouts (eight) as flyouts.

“He got himself out of jams in a couple innings by being able to put the ball on the ground,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “We turned some double plays. We did a nice job. I think that shows his evolution as a starter.”

But Cardinals righty Lance Lynn (7-4) struck out five while giving up one run on four hits and two walks in six innings, and the Cardinals didn’t allow any baserunners to reach third.

The Pirates scored first when Bryan De La Cruz sent Lance Lynn’s 1-0 fastball 431 feet to left field with two outs in the second inning for his second home run with the Pirates and 20th of the season. But the Pirates went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight on base.

The Cardinals tied it at 1-1 in the third inning, when Michael Siani hit a leadoff double, stole third base and scored on Luken Baker’s triple that Bryan Reynolds couldn’t catch and bounced off the left field wall.

The Cardinals had three stolen bases, and Falter blamed himself.

“I’ve got to be better with the walks and stolen bases right now. Just too many free passes,” Falter said. “Could have done a better job to give my team a chance to win. We’ve got to clean some stuff up.

“We’re going to have to be quicker to the plate, mix some timing. The pitch clock got to me a little bit today. I felt like I looked up and was already four or five seconds. They took advantage of that.”

Paul Goldschmidt reached on catcher’s interference to put runners on the corners, but Falter got Nolan Arenado to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Walker smacked Falter’s full-count fastball 425 feet into the bullpen in left-center for a solo homer to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead with one out in the fourth.

Yorke, who made his major league debut Monday night, went 3 for 4 in his second game. He recorded his first MLB hit with a single to center in the fifth and Michael A. Taylor drew a walk to put a pair of runners on with one out, but Nick Gonzales grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame.

“I was pushing a little bit yesterday, when I went 0-for,” said Yorke, who was 0 for 3 in Monday’s 4-0 loss. “I was pressing a little bit, so to get it out of the way means a lot.”

The Pirates’ best scoring chance came in the eighth. Gonzales led off with a double down the third base line and reached third on a single to left by Reynolds. When Joey Bart flied out to left, Reynolds advanced to second on Brendan Donovan’s throw. But Cardinals lefty Matthrew Liberatore struck out Andrew McCutchen and got pinch hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa to ground out to second to end the threat.

Kiner-Falefa remained in the game at third base, only for Masyn Winn’s sharp grounder to skip off his glove for a leadoff single in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch hitter Alec Burleson drew a full-count walk to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Winn advanced to third on Paul Goldschmidt’s fly out to right, then scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Arenado when Billy Cook’s throw bounced to the left of Bart at home plate to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.

Yorke notched his third hit with a two-out single to center in the ninth off Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley, then advanced to second on defensive indifference. But Helsley got pinch hitter Yasmani Grandal looking at a curveball for a called third strike to earn his 45th save.

“We’re a hit away or a pitch away at times and we have to make it,” Shelton said. “We had some opportunities late and weren’t able to capitalize on it. We’ve got to figure out a way to get that hit or make that pitch.”