ST. LOUIS — Monday’s Game Report: Cardinals 4, Pirates 0
Paul Skenes was as good as advertised on Monday night, with the star rookie from the Pirates allowing only one run over six innings against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The problem for Skenes was that Andre Pallante was better.
Pallante shut out the Pirates on four hits over seven innings, with a career-high nine strikeouts, to pitch the Cardinals to the win in the opener of a four-game series that stopped their three-game losing streak.
The Cardinals led 1-0 after six innings before scoring three late insurance runs off the Pirates bullpen.
The win got the Cardinals back to the .500 mark for the season at 75-75 but they remained seven games out of the final wild-card playoff spot, now with 12 games left to play.
Here is how Monday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Skenes retired the first 10 Cardinals in order before Alec Burleson singled, then took second when Skenes was called for a balk. A groundout moved Burleson to third and he scored on a single up the middle by Nolan Arenado … The Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh but could only score once, on a single by Pedro Pages … Another leadoff walk in the eighth was followed by another single by Arenado, a double from Brendan Donovan and a sacrifice fly by Lars Nootbaar.
On the mound: Pallante only allowed one runner to reach second base in the first six innings, a two-out double in the third … An infield single and a walk gave the Pirates two baserunners in the seventh, but Pallante got out of the jam with a strikeout on his last pitch of the night … Andrew Kittredge pitched the eighth and Ryan Fernandez completed the shutout in the ninth, each retiring all three hitters they faced.
Key stat: Skenes fell to 0-2 in three career starts against the Cardinals while going 10-1 in all of his other games. Against the Cardinals, Skenes has allowed three runs in 20 2/3 innings, an ERA of 1.31, while striking out 23 batters without getting a victory.
Worth noting: Catcher Willson Contreras, recovering from a broken finger, will not play again this season. Combined with the time he missed with a broken arm, Contreras was limited to 84 games this season, his fewest in a non-Covid season since he was a rookie in 2016 … Despite coming out of his last start after only 29 pitches, top pitching prospect Tink Hence is on the active roster for Springfield as the Texas League playoffs begin on Tuesday night … The Cardinals that former first baseman Matt Adams will be honored in a pre-game ceremony on Wednesday as he announces his retirement.
Looking ahead: Lance Lynn will make his second start since coming off the injured list on Tuesday night in the second game of the series.