By MATT PIKE
Nolan Gorman homered and drove in three runs and Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker also each drove in three runs apiece helping to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to an 11-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park taking a 2-0 series lead.
Gorman opened the scoring with a home run leading off the second inning, his fourth of the season. The Cardinals extended the lead as Victor Scott II started a two-run second with his first home run of the season before Wetherholt doubled and later scored on a single by Walker pushing the early St. Louis lead to 3-0.
The Cardinals continued to pour the runs on, extending their lead to 6-0 in the fifth inning when Burleson doubled in a run, bringing home Wetherholt after he walked to lead off the inning, and Walker and Gorman each followed with consecutive sacrifice fly balls, driving in both Iván Herrera and Burleson.
Pittsburgh cut the Redbirds lead in half in the bottom of the sixth inning scoring three runs. Oneil Cruz led off the inning with a solo home run, and then with one out in the inning Bryan Reynolds singled and scored in the very next at bat on another home run, coming off the bat of Ryan O'Hearn to right center field. The Cardinals broke the game open with three runs in the seventh inning and two in the eighth.
In the seventh, after back-to-back walks to Herrera and Burleson, Walker singled to drive in Herrera. A groundout by Gorman advanced Walker to second base, and brought home Burleson, and one batter later Masyn Winn singled to score Walker. For the eighth, Wetherholt was hit by a pitch and Herrera doubled, and both came home to score on a double from Burleson, pushing the St. Louis lead to 11-3.
In the bottom half of the eighth, Pittsburgh added two more runs, the first on an RBI single from O'Hearn, driving in Cruz, and a single from Nick Gonzales scoring Reynolds to cut the lead to 11-6. In the ninth inning, Pirates rookie Konnor Griffin hit a solo home run before Cardinals reliever Matt Svanson struck out the next three batters to end the game.
Kyle Leahy earned the win, improving to 3-3 on the season, allowing three runs and nine hits with seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings on the mound. At the plate, Wetherholt was 1-for-3 with a walk, scoring three runs, and Herrera was 1-for-2 with three walks, also scoring three runs. Burleson and Walker each finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs, Burleson walking once and hitting two doubles, while Winn was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
The Cardinals have won the first two games of the four-game series after entering on a four-game losing streak. The Pirates have lost three in a row for the first time this season. They continue their series tomorrow night. Andre Pallante (2-2, 4.26 ERA, 20K's) takes the mound for St. Louis against Bubba Chandler (1-2, 4.88 ERA, 21K's) for Pittsburgh. First pitch is at 5:40pm, pregame coverage will begin near the start at 5:30 on KY 102 (102.5FM).
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