Jared Jones and two relievers combined on a one-hitter as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Tuesday for their fifth straight win.
Jones (5-6) lowered his ERA to 1.08 in four September starts and struck out nine with zero walks over seven innings while throwing 63 of his 86 pitches for strikes.
Luke Weaver struck out the side in the eighth inning before Gregory Soto worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his 16th save.
Pittsburgh (80-77) broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the sixth inning on Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI single against Andre Pallante (12-8).
St. Louis (76-81) struck out 14 times and lost for the fifth time in its last six games.
Jones set the tone for the pitcher’s duel against Pallante with a 1-2-3 first inning while throwing 11 of his 13 pitches for strikes with two strikeouts.
The Pirates threatened in the third inning when Spencer Horwitz hit a one-out double and moved to third on Jacob Gonzalez’s groundout before Pallante struck out Konnor Griffin.
Pallante escaped unscathed again in the fourth inning after Ronny Simon grounded out with the bases loaded.
Griffin tripled into the right-center field gap with two outs in the fifth and was stranded when Brandon Lowe grounded out.
Jones retired the first 16 batters faced before Nathan Church hit a bloop double down the left field line with one out in the sixth inning.
Pallante matched Jones until the bottom of the sixth, when Oneil Cruz drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on Rafael Flores Jr. ‘s groundout, and scored on O’Hearn’s single to left field.
Pallante allowed one run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts over six innings.
With two runners on and two outs in the seventh, the Pirates tacked on a run when Horwitz scored from third on a wild pitch by Cade Winquest.
