Sonny Gray pitched seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits to lead the host St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.
The Cardinals won their season-high fifth in a row and swept the three-game series against the Pirates, who lost their season-high seventh straight.
Gray (4-1) struck out eight and walked one on 89 pitches. He combined with Kyle Leahy and Chris Roycroft for St. Louis’ fourth shutout of the season.
Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller (1-4) delivered a solid start, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks while striking out six on 94 pitches. But the Pirates again struggled to give one of their starters run support as they were shut out for the seventh time.
Pittsburgh has scored one run in its last 23 innings and mustered only four runs in three games against St. Louis.
Masyn Wynn hit a pair of run-scoring doubles, with his first coming in the third when he popped a ball just past first base that landed inside the right-field line to score Lars Nootbaar from second. Nootbaar opened the scoring with an RBI single to score Victor Scott II.
Nootbaar led the Cardinals with three hits and an RBI.
Wynn hit his second double in the fifth to score Scott and put St. Louis ahead 3-0. Jordan Walker also had two RBIs with an eighth-inning single that scored Brendan Donovan and Luken Baker.
Oneil Cruz, Andrew McCutchen, Ke’Bryan Hayes and Tommy Pham each had a single for the Pirates, who have gone 12 innings without an extra-base hit.
Pham became the only Pirate to reach third base when he advanced on Cruz’s one-out single in the eighth. But Leahy struck out Bryan Reynolds and got McCutchen to ground out to end the inning.
Nolan Arenado was scratched from the Cardinals’ lineup just before the game due to back spasms. Nolan Gorman started at third and had one hit and one walk.
–Field Level Media
