Andrew Heaney and Chase Shugart combined on a four-hit shutout and the Pittsburgh Pirates offense remained hot during a 7-0 rout of the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night.
In a game delayed 71 minutes by rain at the start, Heaney (4-7) held St. Louis hitless until the sixth inning, when Victor Scott II produced a two-out single to left field.
Heaney threw 6 2/3 innings and gave up three hits (all singles), walked one and struck out seven on 95 pitches. Shugart threw the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing one single while sealing the Pirates’ fourth consecutive victory and their sixth win in the past eight games.
Each of the past four wins had a margin of at least seven runs, Pittsburgh’s longest streak since 1925.
Spencer Horwitz led the Pirates’ latest offensive outburst with a solo home run — his second long ball of the season — in the first off Cardinals starter Erick Fedde (3-8). Horwitz finished with two hits and three RBIs.
Pittsburgh’s Ke’Bryan Hayes had a hit and two RBIs while extending his hitting streak to nine games. He is batting 14-for-33 (.424) with 10 RBIs during the streak.
Bryan Reynolds also had two hits for the Pirates while Nick Gonzales and Tommy Pham each had an RBI.
The Cardinals lost for only the fourth time in their past 14 games and had a three-game winning streak snapped. St. Louis’ three most recent defeats were all shutouts.
Fedde was solid through the first four innings after allowing the early home run, but he ran into trouble during what would become a six-run fifth inning for the Pirates.
Joey Bart led off the inning with a single, Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a bunt hit and both scored on Horwitz’s double.
Gonzales doubled three batters later to knock in a run. After the Cardinals loaded the bases by intentionally walking Oneil Cruz, Hayes drove in two more runs with a single to make it 6-0.
Pham added another RBI single before Fedde finished the frame by getting Bart to ground into a double play.
Fedde allowed all seven Pittsburgh runs on 10 hits and three walks in five innings. He had no strikeouts.
–Field Level Media
