ST. LOUIS (AP) — Josh Palacios hit a pinch hit home run off Drew VerHagen in the top of the ninth inning to help the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-6 for their fifth straight win.
VerHagen (4-1) entered the game with one out in the ninth inning and hit Andrew McCutchen before Palacios, pinch hitting for Connor Joe, hit a 3-1 pitch into the right field seats for his seventh home run of the season.
Jordan Walker, Lars Nootbaar and Tyler O’Neill all homered for the Cardinals.
![Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher David Bednar celebrates after getting St. Louis Cardinals](https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/08/20230902220936-64f3f142a1bfc64eed98989djpeg.jpg?w=1000)
Bailey Falter entered the game in the third inning and allowed one run on one hit and a walk in 3 2/3 innings as the Pirates’s bulk reliever after opener Thomas Hatch allowed three runs on three hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Cody Bolton (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth inning for his first major league win, and David Bednar surrendered a single to Tommy Edman and hit Walker with a pitch before retiring Masyn Winn, Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt for his 31st save.
Drew Rom allowed three runs on five hits and walked three batters in 4 2/3 innings in his third career start and first at home.
After Edman singled to lead off the seventh inning, Walker hit a 1-0 pitch over the center field wall for his 13th home run of the season to push St. Louis ahead 6-5.
Miguel Andujar drove in Endy Rodríguez with a double to center field off Jacob Barnes for his first hit with the Pirates and scored two batters later on a Ji Hwan Bae single to give Pittsburgh a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning.
Nootbaar hit his 13th home run of the season to right-center field in the bottom of the fifth after O’Neill hit a three-run shot for his eight of the season in the second inning.
Joe delivered an RBI triple in the fourth inning, and Bryan Reynolds and McCutchen added back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth to tie the game at 3.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Pirates: OF Henry Davis (right hand muscle strain) took batting practice pregame after having recently been cleared to resume taking swings.
Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (general fatigue) will have his scheduled start Sunday pushed back to Thursday in Atlanta. … RHP Guillermo Zuñiga (right forearm strain) was transferred to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man roster spot after the club claimed OF Michael Siani from Cincinnati off waivers and optioned him to Triple-A Memphis.
UP NEXT
Pirates RHP Johan Oviedo (8-13, 4.20 ERA) tossed a two-hitter for his first career shutout in his last outing at Kansas City on Monday night. He will face Cardinals LHP Zack Thompson (3-5, 3.92 ERA) on Sunday.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb