September 17 – Andre Palante allows only four hits in seven innings and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 4–0 on Monday.
Palant (7-8) struck out a career-high nine batters and the Cardinals (75-75) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Andrew Kittredge pitched a perfect eighth inning for the Cardinals, and Ryan Fernandez also pitched a perfect ninth inning to end the four-game series opener.
Paul Skanes (10-3) allowed one run on four hits in six innings for the Pirates (71-79), who lost for the third time in four games. Skanes struck out seven and walked one, lowering his ERA to 2.07.
Pittsburgh reliever Kyle Nichols left the game injured after walking the only batter he faced in the eighth inning.
Isaiah Kiner-Falefa started the inning with a single and advanced on a one-out grounder, but Palant struck out Connor Joe to strand him.
Skeens retired his first 10 batters until Alec Burleson took the lead with a single in the fourth inning. Burleson advanced to second after a disengagement, moved to third on a grounder and scored on Nolan Arenado’s single to give the Cardinals a 1–0 lead.
The Cardinals threatened again in the sixth inning. Masin Winn singled and walked Burleson, but Skeens struck out the next two batters.
Brian De La Cruz hit an infield single in the bottom of the seventh inning and reached second base on a throwing error. However, after Yasmani Grandal was walked, Pallant retired the next two batters, ending the threat.
Ryan Borucki replaced Skeens and did not get out of the seventh inning. Brendan Donovan doubled, Lars Nootbaar reached base on a Borucki error and Jordan Walker doubled.
Pedro Pagés welcomed reliever Colin Holderman with an RBI single to give the Cardinals a 2–0 lead, but Holderman prevented further damage.
The Cardinals extended their lead to 4-0 in the eighth inning. Paul Goldschmidt walked Nichols to open the frame. Arenado had a single against Jalen Bueckers, Donovan had an RBI double and Nutball picked up a sacrifice fly.
–Visual-level media
