St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates

· Major League Baseball

St. Louis Cardinals

53-49, 27-27 Away

Final
0 - 5

Pittsburgh Pirates

52-50, 26-26 Home

Pérez works 6 scoreless innings, Tellez splashes a homer into the river as Pirates top Cardinals 5-0

Pérez (2-5) allowed four hits, three in his final two innings, and walked five with two strikeouts. The 33-year-old left-hander entered with a 5.61 ERA after allowing 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings over his last two starts.

“I got confidence,” Pérez said. "It doesn't matter. Every outing I'm always going to trust my stuff. That happened today. I was able to compete and throw a lot of pitches in the strike zone."

Tellez chased Matthew Liberatore (2-3) at the start of the fourth inning by sending a fastball 447 feet into the river beyond the wall in right field, extending the Pirates' lead to five runs.

“It was a good day. It was a good win,” Tellez said. “Martín pitched his butt off. We needed that going into this road trip. It puts us in a good spot.”

Liberatore allowed five runs on four hits in three innings, walking three and striking out three.

The Pirates, who have won eight of their last 10 games, took two of three from the Phillies and Cardinals in their first two series after the All-Star break. They are third in the NL Central, one game behind second-place St. Louis.

“Very important. We get the best team in baseball and then we get the team that's ahead of us in the division," Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said. “So, to go 4-2 on the homestand is off to a good start. ... We have to continue to play well, but very proud of how we responded coming out of the break.”

The Cardinals, 1/2 game ahead of the Padres for the third wild card, stranded 11 runners and slipped to 3-3 since coming out of the break.

Connor Joe capped a four-run second inning with a two-out, two-run double to left-center, a liner that center fielder Dylan Carlson failed to bring in on a dive. Joe, batting third, picked up his first RBI since June 11.

Tellez opened the scoring with an RBI single to center. Liberatore walked Andrew McCutchen with the bases loaded to make it 2-0.

“'Libby' just wasn't sharp early,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “You look at the first 10 hitters, three-ball count in five out of 10. Walked three, hit one. Settled in after that.”

Pedro Pagés and Masyn Winn each hit a two-out single before Alec Burleson walked for St. Louis in the fifth inning. Pérez got Willson Contreras to ground to third, leaving the bases loaded.

Contreras flew out to right in the seventh, ending the inning with runners on second and third.

“We didn't come through with the big hit,” Marmol said. “Offensively, we just didn't do enough. ... It's been all year. We're battling through it. There's been some games that are better than others. This is one that didn't go our way.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: All-Star OF Bryan Reynolds was scratched from the lineup with back spasms and is considered day-to-day. He leads Pittsburgh with a .288 batting average, 18 home runs and 61 RBI. ... LHP Bailey Falter (triceps) began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Indianapolis on Wednesday, allowing two runs on five hits with three strikeouts in three innings against Iowa.

Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray (10-6, 3.54 ERA) starts Friday, beginning a three-game home series against the Washington Nationals.

Pirates: RHP Luis Ortiz (5-2, 2.57) will take the mound in Arizona on Friday, opening a three-game series against the Diamondbacks.

How can I watch St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates?

TV Channel: Cardinals at Pirates 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on Bally Sports MW.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Pirates: 46.1%

Cardinals: 53.9%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Burleson grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Winn walked.
	9th Inning	Pagés grounded into double play, second to shortstop to first, Nootbaar out at second.
	9th Inning	Nootbaar walked.
	9th Inning	Chapman relieved Holderman
	8th Inning	Bart lined out to third.

Statistics

STL		PIT
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	1
15	Ground Balls	8
4	Strikeouts	5
0	Runs Batted In	5
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
6	Hits	5
0	Stolen Bases	0
9	Walks	4
0	Catcher Interference	0
0	Runs	5
3	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
29	At Bats	29
0	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
17	Runners Left On Base	10
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	1
0	Intentional Walks	0
1	Doubles	2
10	Fly Balls	16
1	Caught Stealing	0
152	Pitches	131
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	0
7	Total Bases	10
38	Plate Appearances	34
0.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
1	Extra Base Hits	3
2.6	Runs Created	3.3
.207	Batting Average	.172
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.241	Slugging Percentage	.345
.310	Secondary Average	.310
.395	On Base Percentage	.294
.636	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.639
1.5	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.5
2.6	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	3.7
8.0	Batter Rating	32.0
0.0	At Bats Per Home Run	29.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
4.00	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.85
.034	Isolated Power	.172
2.25	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.80
.237	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.118
.103	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.138
0.0	Runs Produced	10.0
0.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.4	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.2	Balls In Play Average	0.2
67.3	MLB Rating	78.0
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0