Thirty-six innings. More than a year. That’s how long it had been since the Cardinals scored against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
St. Louis quickly made up for lost time.
The Cardinals exploded for four runs with one out in the ninth inning against the usually reliable Dennis Santana as St. Louis posted a 4-2 win in the opener of a four-game series with the Pirates on Monday.
The teams go right back at it Tuesday night.
The Cardinals went scoreless in the last inning of a 2-1, 13-inning defeat at Pittsburgh on April 9, 2025, dropping the decisive contest of a three-game series.
The Pirates then swept a three-game home series against St. Louis early last July, shutting out the Cards in all three games and outscoring the visitors 13-0.
And then came the 2026 season-series opener on Monday. Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly scheduled a bullpen game, and his relievers came into the contest in fine form, having combined for 24 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings extending back to a win at Texas on Wednesday.
The Pirates kept St. Louis off the basepaths entirely for the first 6 1/3 innings. Mason Montgomery started for the second time this season, and Justin Lawrence followed, each tossing a scoreless inning.
Wilber Dotel, making just his third major league appearance, threw four perfect innings and struck out three.
“We had targeted four innings from him, and we thought that would be the absolute max,” Kelly said. “I thought (the pitchers) did a tremendous job. I mean, from Monty to Lawrence and then Dotel came in firing and (Evan) Sisk as well.”
The Cardinals’ first hit didn’t blow the doors off. Alec Burleson beat out a ground ball to third against Sisk in the seventh, but Sisk, Isaac Mattson and Gregory Soto kept the Cardinals off the board until Santana entered in the ninth.
Santana came into the contest with two saves and a 0.69 ERA in 13 appearances, but he gave up back-to-back home runs to backup catcher Pedro Pages and rookie JJ Wetherholt.
“Everybody loves him,” Cardinals teammate and former West Virginia University teammate Victor Scott II said of Wetherholt. “It’s kind of hard not to love that guy. He’s a very infectious kid to be around. Just an awesome player.”
Jose Fermin followed four batters later with a bases-loaded, two-run double for the win. The Pirates lost their second straight game, marking the first time this season they lost on consecutive days.
Pittsburgh did not list a starting pitcher for Tuesday. Right-handed reliever Cam Sanders (0-0, 12.00 ERA) could be a possibility for his first major league start, but he got the last out on Monday after Santana’s meltdown. He has never faced the Cardinals.
St. Louis, which won for the first time in five games, will give the ball to right-hander Kyle Leahy (2-3, 5.63 ERA), who has alternated losses and wins in his five starts. He allowed four runs on eight hits in five innings of an 8-4 loss to the Miami Marlins on Wednesday.
Leahy will be starting against the Pirates for the first time. In seven career relief outings vs. Pittsburgh, he is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings.
Pittsburgh’s Nick Gonzales went 3-for-4 on Monday, extending his season-best hitting streak to eight games. Gonzales is batting .484 (15-for-31) with three RBIs and five runs during the streak.
–Field Level Media
