St. Louis Cardinals' Jordan Walker rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Jordan Walker homers in 3-run 7th inning to help Cardinals beat Pirates 4-1

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Thomas Saggese hit a go-ahead RBI double and Jordan Walker homered in a three-run seventh inning to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Thursday.

Miles Mikolas allowed one run on four hits and a walk and struck out five in five innings.

Kyle Leahy (4-1) recorded four strikeouts in two scoreless innings of relief, Riley O’Brien pitched a scoreless eighth and JoJo Romero pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Pirates rookie Braxton Ashcraft allowed one run on four hits and recorded five strikeouts in a career-best 5 2/3 innings before being replaced by Yohan Ramírez (1-2).

Iván Herrera lined a double to left field, scoring Lars Nootbaar to tie the game at 1 in the bottom of the third inning.

Tommy Pham lined his eighth home run of the season 440 feet over the left-field bullpen in the first inning to put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0.

Key moment

Masyn Winn was hit by a pitch from Ramírez to lead off the seventh and scored on Saggese’s double to the right-center field wall to put St. Louis ahead 2-1. Walker then hit the next pitch into the left-center field bleachers for his fifth home run of the season to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 4-1.

Key stat

Ashcraft is 1-0 with a 1.19 ERA over 19 innings in four starts since joining the starting rotation on Aug. 9 versus Cincinnati.

Up next

RHP Paul Skenes (8-9, 2.09 ERA) starts for the Pirates in the opener of a three-game series Friday night at Boston, which has not named a starter. Cardinals LHP Matthew Liberatore (6-11, 4.27) opposes RHP Zack Littell (9-8, 3.62) to open a three-game series in Cincinnati Friday night.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

St. Louis Cardinals’ Thomas Saggese (25) and Jordan Walker celebrate a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates following a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals’ Masyn Winn scores during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas adjusts his cap after giving up a solo home run to Pittsburgh Pirates’ Tommy Pham during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Braxton Ashcraft throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

News from © The Associated Press, . All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join the Conversation!

Want to share your thoughts, add context, or connect with others in your community?

Create a free account

The Associated Press

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.

Related Articles