*Photo from Athlon Sports*
Alec Burleson homered and drove in a pair of runs, Nolan Gorman hit a grand slam, and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 7-4 victory Tuesday night in Pittsburgh.
It was the second grand slam of Gorman's career and second in as many years, lifting the Cardinals to their second straight win and 7th in 10 games as they won the series opener against a division rival. Backed by a scoreless day from the bullpen, the Cardinals now sit at 44-40.
With the first two innings scoreless, the Cardinals offense woke up in the 3rd inning. Burleson blasted a two run home run to right field, putting the Cardinals ahead 2-0 on his 13th home run of the season. With nobody out in the 4th and the bases loaded, Gorman delivered his 17th home run of the year in grand fashion, making it 6-0 Cardinals on his grand slam.
Gorman said of his at bat in the 4th that "I put the barrel on the ball, so whatever happened there in that situation, bases loaded and no outs, I got a job done. I’m just glad it went over the fence, too."
Jack Suwinski had an answer in the 5th inning for the Pirates, hitting a 3 run home run to center field, cutting the lead in half to 6-3 on his 7th home run of the season. Andrew McCutchen then made it a two run game, with his 12th home run of the season making it 6-4. In the 7th, an RBI single by Brendan Donovan made it 7-4 Cardinals.
Kyle Gibson was the starter for the Cardinals, charged with 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk over 5 innings in his start. John King worked 2/3 of an inning, Ryan Fernandez pitched 1 1/3 innings, JoJo Romero had a scoreless 8th, and Ryan Helsley worked the 9th to record his 31st save of the season.
Getting the start for the Pirates was Mitch Keller, who was tagged for 6 runs on 9 hits, striking out 5 hitters in 5 innings pitched. Josh Fleming came on for the 6th and pitched a scoreless inning before Luis Ortiz allowed a run while pitching a pair of innings. New addition Dennis Santana worked a scoreless 9th inning.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said of Keller's start "He had trouble putting guys away. He gave up some hits with two outs, gave up the homers with two strikes. It looked like he missed in the middle of the plate with two strikes."
Game two of the series is set for Wednesday night. Miles Mikolas takes the mound for the Cardinals as they look to secure the series win ahead of Thursday's finale. Rookie Jared Jones gets the start for the Pirates as they look to bounce back.
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