Walker homers to push Cardinals past Pirates 4-1

Thomas Saggese hit a go-ahead RBI double and Jordan Walker homered in a three-run seventh inning to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Thursday.

Miles Mikolas allowed one run on four hits and a walk and struck out five in five innings.

Kyle Leahy (4-1) recorded four strikeouts in two scoreless innings of relief, Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless eighth and JoJo Romero pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Pirates rookie Braxton Ashcraft allowed one run on four hits and recorded five strikeouts in a career-best 5 2/3 innings before being replaced by Yohan Ramírez (1-2).

Tommy Pham lined his eighth home run of the season 440 feet over the left-field bullpen in the first inning to put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0.

Cardinals LHP Matthew Liberatore (6-11, 4.27) opposes RHP Zack Littell (9-8, 3.62) to open a three-game series in Cincinnati Friday night.



(AP Photo Jeff Roberson)