ST. LOUIS (AP) — Paul Goldschmidt and Brendan Donovan homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 on Thursday.
Donovan’s homer off Mitch Keller to lead off the sixth snapped a 3-all tie and extended his hitting streak to eight games as the Cardinals won back-to-back games for first time since May 29.
“A guy like that, you kind of want to catch him a little more out in front because he does have really good stuff, his stuff’s kind of breaking into you,” Donovan said. “So, you kind of want to be on time a little more out in front and you never know in this ballpark, but it snuck out.”
Lance Lynn went just 4 1/3 innings, snapping a string of four straight quality starts by Cardinals pitchers. Lynn allowed three runs on four hits, walked three and struck out five.
Lynn’s fifth strikeout of Ke’Bryan Hayes in the fifth, his final out of the outing, was his 987th as a Cardinal. it moved him past Matt Morris for sixth all-time in franchise history.
“I left another decent outing on the table by not getting through the fifth, but the bullpen picked me up like they’ve been doing all year and offense scrapped through,” Lynn said.
Chris Roycroft (1-0) earned his first major league decision as five different Cardinals relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Andrew Kittredge earned his first save.
“I’m just at a loss of words right now,” Roycroft said. “It definitely means the world to me.”
Keller (8-4) allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings. Keller struck out four and walked none as the Pirates lost for the third time in their last four games. The homers allowed to Goldschmidt and Donovan were the first home runs allowed in the last five starts by Keller.
“Mitch wasn’t very sharp,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “As good as he’s been, he just wasn’t overly sharp today and left a couple of balls in the middle of the plate and they capitalized and hit the ball out of the ballpark.”
It was the 45th straight outing of at least five innings for Keller, moving him into a tie with Ed Doheny (1903) for the fourth-longest such streak in Pirates history.
Goldschmidt’s two-run homer gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the third inning. It was Goldschmidt’s first extra base hit since June 3.
José Fermín got a two-out rally going in the fourth with his first major league triple before scoring on a Pedro Pagés single to make it 3-0.
Bryan Reynolds’ bases loaded infield single scored Jack Suwinski and knocked Lynn out of the game in the fifth. Oneil Cruz greeted reliver John King with a two-run single to tie the game at 3.
“That was a very good game,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Our pen did a phenomenal job. We were able to piece it together.”
ROYALS 4, YANKEES 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Maikel Garcia hit a game-ending two run double off Yankees closer Clay Holmes, and the Kansas City Royals recovered after squandering a brilliant start by Alec Marsh to beat New York 4-3 on Thursday and avoid a four-game sweep.
Marsh took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning against the major league-best Yankees (49-22), who had outscored the Royals 25-8 in the first three games of the series. He allowed Juan Soto’s leadoff single in that frame and then retired the next three batters to conclude his 96-pitch outing.
“I thought we had a good game plan going in,” Marsh said. “Me and (catcher) Freddy (Fermin) were on the same page all day. I just felt comfortable out there.
“Just watching what they did the last couple of days, I was sick and tired of it.”
Marsh struck out Aaron Judge three times.
“Mixing it up,” he said. “I tried to keep him off-balance. He’s such a good hitter. He’s looking for things in certain counts. I was trying to throw him things I don’t normally throw in those counts.”
After Marsh’s exit, New York went to work in the eighth against reliever John Schreiber. Anthony Rizzo homered to get the Yankees within 2-1. An error by second baseman Garrett Hampson set up Anthony Volpe’s RBI grounder. Angel Zerpa came in and gave up Soto’s go-ahead RBI single.
With one out in the ninth against Holmes (1-2), Drew Waters hit a grounder that went for an infield hit after Holmes and first baseman Rizzo were confused about who would field the ball. After a fielder’s choice, Kyle Isbel singled to bring up Garcia, who hit a liner down the left-field line to score MJ Melendez from third and Isbel from first.
It was the fourth blown save in 23 chances for Holmes.
“I couldn’t be more proud of those guys,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “You’re down. That’s a really good club with an elite closer coming in. We’ve talked so much about it, but I never get tired of bragging about it. The way they hustle, the way they never quit, it’s inspiring for me to come to work every day to be around these guys.”
Quatraro missed the rally after being ejected in the sixth inning. After the game, Marsh said Quatraro told him he didn’t even know he had a no-hitter going, and Marsh responded, “Don’t get tossed next time.”
James McArthur (3-3) worked a scoreless ninth for Kansas City, which snapped a four-game skid and is second in the AL Central. The Royals finished 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
Nestor Cortes gave up two runs in seven innings for New York to lower his road ERA to 5.57 from 6.17. The left-hander’s ERA at Yankee Stadium is 1.77.
“I thought Nestor was good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It was a good pitchers’ duel. His fastball was playing up. He was at 90, 91, 92, but it was, it had something on it. He had a presence on both sides. I thought he did a good job, like Marsh, of mixing to give us seven strong there.”
Bobby Witt Jr. extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games with a fourth-inning single and came in to score on Vinnie Pasquantino’s two-run double off the wall in left-center. That gave the Royals their first lead in the series.
The Royals threatened again in the sixth. Witt led off with a single, but was caught stealing on a pickoff throw by Cortes. Quatraro was ejected after arguing that Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres blocked Witt’s path to the bag.
BRAVES 6, ORIOLES 3
BALTIMORE (AP) — After Reynaldo Lopez matched his season high with eight strikeouts over six shutout innings in the Atlanta Braves’ 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, the new MLB ERA leader revealed the catalyst for exceptional season: his wife.
“She was constantly telling my agent to keep looking for opportunities where I could be a starter somewhere,” Lopez (4-2) said through an interpreter. He signed a 3-year contract with the Braves last November with the intention of returning to a starting role. “She was the one who kind of kept the faith.”
Reynaldo Lopez hadn’t pitched regularly in a rotation since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But it’s safe to say Jhilaris Lopez was onto something.
Thursday was yet another outing where he looked like one of the game’s best, allowing only two singles while throwing 58 of 91 pitches for strikes.
At one point he retired one point retiring 14 consecutive batters to help Atlanta snap a five-game slide and halt the Orioles’ six-game win streak.
When it was over, he had posted his third-straight start of six innings and three or fewer runs, and the eighth of the season overall. It lowered his ERA to 1.69.
“I’m definitely proud of the way I’ve been pitching, but to be honest I don’t pay much attention to that kind of stuff,” Lopez said of the ERA leaderboard. “I really just try to block out all the noise and the thoughts that can creep into your head.”
Marcell Ozuna’s two-run double off Cole Irvin (6-3) staked Lopez to a first-inning lead, and Ozzie Albies’ four hits helped Atlanta add a run each in the fourth and sixth innings, and two more in the ninth.
In all, the Braves produced 12 hits, their most since June 1.
“They’re all good, but that was an especially good ballgame to win,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said.
Baltimore’s Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer off reliever Pierce Johnson in the seventh to close Baltimore’s deficit to one and put Atlanta’s third win of a nine-game road trip in doubt.
“It gave us a chance,” Stowers said. “I’ve spent some time up here since ‘22, and every stretch I’ve been here, late innings we find a way to fight.”
Joe Jimenez worked a scoreless eighth against the top of Baltimore’s order, and after the Braves’ two-run ninth Raisel Iglesias survived the tying run reaching the plate to record his 17th save.
Lopez’s batters-retired streak ended when issuing his only walk to Adley Rutschman with two outs in the sixth. But he followed by inducing Ryan O’Hearn into an inning-ending lineout to ensure Rutschman did not become the first Oriole runner to get beyond second base.
“I think he’s getting over the hump of the starting thing now,” Snitker said of Lopez. “He’s been really good, I’ll tell you that. To me he’s exceeded expectations.
