Gonzales lifts Pirates over Cards

Nick Gonzales delivered an RBI single in the 8th to give Pittsburgh the lead.

Riding the momentum of a series win against the team with the best record in baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates wanted to cut into the twogame lead of an NL Central rival.

Mitch Keller delivered his team-best 11th quality start, and Nick Gonzales drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-1, on Monday night before 18,970 at PNC Park.

The Pirates (51-49) now trail the Cardinals (52-48) by one game in both the NL Central and wild-card standings.

Rather than start Keller in the weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Pirates saved their staff anchor for the Cardinals by giving him seven days off between starts. The righthander responded by holding the Cardinals to one run, coming on Nolan Gorman’s solo homer in the fifth, while giving up six hits and two walks with three strikeouts on 97 pitches (62 strikes) in seven innings.

The score was tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth when Bryan Reynolds hit a leadoff single past diving shortstop Masyn Winn. Reynolds advanced to second on lefty John King’s wild pitch and scored when Gonzales hit a sinker off the end of his bat through the right side.

Keller escaped a pair of scoring threats early. The Cardinals put a pair of runners in scoring position with one out in the second inning, but Keller got a pair of groundouts to escape. Rowdy Tellez hit a leadoff double to the warning track in right-center but also was stranded.

Alec Burleson singled to center with one out in the third, but Keller got Willson Contreras looking at a slider for a called third strike and catcher Joey Bart threw out Burleson at second to end the frame.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Andrew McCutchen drilled a double to the leftfield corner and scored on Oneil Cruz’s two-out single to left.

Gorman tied it at 1-1 in the fifth when he crushed Keller’s curveball inside 362 feet to right field for a leadoff home run, his 19th of the season.

Pedro Pages followed with a single to right, then advanced to second when Burleson hit a comebacker to the mound that bounced off Keller’s right hand. Keller scooped the ball with his glove and relayed it to Tellez at first for the out, but Pirates manager Derek Shelton and assistant trainer Tony Leo visited the mound to check on him.

Keller remained in the game but walked Contreras. When Brendan Donovan hit a sharp grounder down the first-base line, Tellez stretched out to make the stop and throw to Keller to finish off the frame.

When the Cardinals turned to right-handed reliever Chris Roycroft in the seventh, Jack Suwinski singled to left then raced to third on Joshua Palacios’ pinch-hit single to right to put runners on the corners. But Joey Bart hit a bouncer to third baseman Nolan Arenado, who was playing on the edge of the grass and threw Suwinski out at home plate, and McCutchen grounded into a forceout at second to end the rally.

Pirates lefty reliever Aroldis Chapman (2-4) earned the win by making quick work of the Cardinals in the eighth, setting the stage for them to take the lead. Tellez followed Gonzales with a single to right to put runners on the corners, but Ke’Bryan Hayes grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Closer David Bednar gave up a two-out single to Paul Goldschmidt in the ninth but struck out Gorman to earn his 18th save.