Albert Pujols homered twice and Harrison Bader went deep once Sunday and the visiting St. Louis Cardinals routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 18-4 for a three-game series sweep.
Brendan Donovan and Tommy Edman each had a two-run double as every player in the St. Louis lineup had at least one hit — 20 in all — and one RBI.
St. Louis left-hander Steven Matz was pulled after four pitches because of shoulder stiffness in his pitching arm.
Angel Rondon (1-0) relieved and pitched five scoreless, one-hit innings, with three strikeouts and four walks for his first major league win.
Yoshi Tsutsugo and Jack Suwinski homered for the Pirates.
Pittsburgh starter Bryse Wilson (0-3) yielded seven runs and six hits in 1 2/3 innings.
After Edman opened the game with a single and stole second, Nolan Gorman picked up his first career RBI with a double to make it 1-0.
In the second, Edmundo Sosa singled and Corey Dickerson walked. An out later, Bader singled home Sosa. Edman followed with a two-run double to make it 4-0.
Gorman singled and Edman scored on Nolan Arenado’s sacrifice fly. Juan Yepez walked. Tyler Beede replaced Wilson and gave up a two-run double to Donovan for a 7-0 St. Louis lead.
The Cardinals added four more in the fourth, all with two outs. Arenado singled, went to second on Beede’s wild pitch and scored on Yepez’s base hit. Donovan singled, Sosa walked, and Dickerson drove in two more with a single to push it to 10-0.
Chase de Jong replaced Beede and gave up an RBI single by Andrew Knizner to make it 11-0.
Pujols, pinch-hitting in the fifth with two outs, hit his third homer, a blast to left, to give St. Louis a 12-0 lead.
Sosa’s two-out RBI double in the eighth made it 13-0.
With infielder Josh VanMeter pitching, St. Louis added five more in the ninth, on Bader’s two-run homer to left, and Pujols’ three-run shot to left.
Catcher Yadier Molina pitched the bottom of the ninth, giving up Tsutsugo’s solo homer to right, a run on Ke’Bryan Hayes’ groundout, and Suwinski’s two-run shot to right.
–Field Level Media
