Grandal homers, Gonzales gets an RBI single in the 8th to push Pittsburgh past St. Louis 3-2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Yasmani Grandal homered, Nick Gonzales drove in the winning run with a single in the eighth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Pirates starter Luis Ortiz allowed two runs on five hits and had seven strikeouts in six innings. Carmen Mlodzinski (4-5) and Dennis Santana each tossed a scoreless inning, and Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth to earn his 10th save in 15 chances.

Cardinals starter Erick Fedde allowed one run on four hits and struck out three.

Gonzales singled up the middle off Ryan Fernandez who entered the game after JoJo Romero (7-3) walked pinch hitter Connor Joe with two outs in the top of the eighth.

Grandal hit his eighth home run of the season to right field off Andrew Kittredge in the seventh inning to tie the game 2-2.

Brendan Donovan hit an RBI single to left in the fourth inning to tie the game 1-1, then drove in anoher run with a double to the left-center field gap in the sixth inning to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. He now has a hit in all 18 home games he has played against Pittsburgh to start his career.

Gonzales lined a triple to right field that Jordan Walker had trouble corralling and scored on Bryan De La Cruz’s sacrifice fly to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

TRANSACTION

Pittsburgh purchased the contract of RHP Isaac Mattson from Triple-A Indianapolis. Mattson has not appeared in a major league game since pitching for Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2021, in Toronto. RHP Jake Woodford was designated for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: C Endy Rodríguez (right elbow surgery) batted third as the designated hitter for Indianapolis in a rehab appearance at St. Paul.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (11-10, 3.87 ERA) is scheduled to face Reds RHP Nick Martinez (9-6, 3.37 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series in Cincinnati on Friday night.

Cardinals: RHP Kyle Gibson (8-7, 4.11 ERA) will oppose Guardians RHP Ben Lively (12-9, 3.87 ERA) in the opener of St. Louis’ final home series of the season on Friday night.

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