Andre Pallante allowed a run and five hits over six innings, Alec Burleson homered and the St. Louis Cardinals held on for a 5-4 win over the host Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.
Pallante (3-2) did not walk a batter and fanned six.
Ivan Herrera was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Cardinals, who have won the first three games of the four-game series.
Spencer Horwitz homered for the Pirates, who lost their fourth straight.
Right-hander Riley O’Brien pitched the ninth for his eighth save with a big assist from left fielder Nathan Church, who leaped at the wall to snare Nick Gonzales’ long drive with a runner on for the final out.
Oneil Cruz’s bases-loaded fielder’s choice in the eighth cut Pittsburgh’s deficit to 5-4.
Pinch hitter Nick Yorke’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the seventh pulled the Pirates to within 5-3. Pittsburgh loaded the bases again in the inning, but JoJo Romero struck out Ryan O’Hearn and got Marcell Ozuna on a groundout.
Pirates starter Bubba Chandler (1-3) gave up three runs on three hits in five innings with four walks and six strikeouts. Four of the strikeouts came in the first two innings.
J.J. Wetherholt’s run-scoring double in the third gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. It was St. Louis’ first hit and scored Ramon Urias, who had walked and moved to second on a flyout.
Burleson’s two-out, two-run homer in the fifth stretched the Cardinals’ lead to 3-0. He drove Chandler’s 1-1 slider to the opposite field in left-center an estimated 411 feet for Burleson’s fourth home run. It also brought home Herrera, who had doubled.
Pittsburgh finally got to Pallante in the bottom of the fifth when Horwitz led off with his third homer. He took a 1-0 slider over the fence in center, an estimated 397 feet away.
The Cardinals added two in the seventh on RBI singles by Herrera and Jordan Walker to make it 5-1.
