By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The St. Louis Cardinals came from behind with a big sixth inning for their third straight victory, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 on Monday night at Busch Stadium.
After Pittsburgh took an early lead in the first inning on Bryan Reynolds two run home run, the Cardinals tied the game up in the bottom of the third inning. Leading off the third, Jose Barrero hit his first home run of the season for St. Louis, and after Lars Nootbaar flew out, Alec Burleson hit the second home run of the inning and his second home run of the season to knot the game at 2-2.
The Pirates took the lead back in the fourth inning. Joey Bart led the inning off with a walk and Emmanuel Valdez followed that with a single. Former Royal Adam Frazier singled later in the inning to drive Bart in for the go ahead run. After Tommy Pham walked to load the bases, Jared Triolo grounded into a double play to end the inning.
In the sixth inning, it was another home run that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the game, this time off the bat of Willson Contreras, a two run home run scoring Nolan Arenado who walked in the at bat prior. Back to back to back singles by Nolan Gorman, Pedro Pagés, Victor Scott II loaded the bases before Barerro drove in the final two runs with a ground rule double.
Gordon Graceffo got the win in relief, moving to 2-0 on the season, pitching one clean inning. Miles Mikolas in a no decision pitched five innings giving up three runs on four hits, striking out one and walking three. Contreras (2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI), Pagés (2-3), and Barrero (2-4, 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 RBI) led the way at the plate.
St. Louis and Pittsburgh continue their series tomorrow at Busch Stadium. Matthew Liberatore starts for the Cardinals against Paul Skenes for the Pirates. The Cardinals have had some good luck against Skenes and will hope to see it continue. In four career starts against St. Louis, Skenes is 0-3 with a 2.70 ERA.
First pitch will be at 6:45pm with pregame coverage being joined at 6:35 on KY 102 (102.5 FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.