May 18, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado (28) hits a two run home run during the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer to power the St. Louis Cardinals past the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 5-2 Tuesday night.
Tommy Edman had a two-run single and Edmundo Sosa hit an RBI double as the Cardinals snapped a three-game losing streak.
Cardinals starting pitcher John Gant (3-3) allowed two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings to earn the victory. Giovanny Gallegos threw two scoreless innings of relief and Alex Reyes closed out the ninth inning for his 12th save.
Losing pitcher JT Brubaker (3-3) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 first-inning lead when Arenado followed Dylan Carlson’s one-out walk with his two-out homer to left-center field.
Using small ball, the Cardinals doubled that lead to 4-0 in the second inning.
Harrison Bader drew a leadoff walk and Sosa hit a one-out single. Gant’s sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position and Edman popped a two-run single into shallow left field.
Carlson lined a single into right field, but Brubaker avoided further damage by retiring Paul Goldschmidt on a fly ball.
Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman hit two-out singles for the Pirates in the third inning, but Gant struck out Bryan Reynolds to strand them.
Arenado drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third and Yadier Molina followed with a single. Sosa’s two-out RBI double pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 5-0.
The Pirates cut that lead to 5-2 in the sixth inning.
Newman hit a leadoff double and Reynolds drew a walk. Will Craig smashed a liner off Gant’s glove for a forceout at third base.
Genesis Cabrera relieved Gant and threw a wild pitch to advance the runners. Gregory Polanco hit a run-scoring groundout and Erik Gonzalez followed with an RBI infield single before Cabrera finally retired the side.
–Field Level Media