After Alec Burleson hit a single to give the Cardinals the lead, Ryan Helsley struck out three straight batters in the bottom of the ninth to earn his 33rd save.
PITTSBURGH — Alec Burleson’s magical summer added another highlight Tuesday night, when he hit Paul Skenes for the first loss of his major league career.
After Skenes held the Cardinals off for eight innings, the Pirates and Cardinals were tied 1-1 going into the ninth inning when Michael Siani batted first and doubled and scored on a single by Burleson, who pitched an 0-2 inning and was Skenes’ 104th and final pitch of the day.
Skenes, who started in last week’s All-Star game, allowed just one run and two hits over the first eight innings, with the run coming on a home run by Nolan Arenado.
The Pirates then tied the game in the eighth inning and took the lead in the ninth. Skenes, who started his career 6-0, allowed the most runs in a game this season, pitching 8 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, no walks and striking out eight.
After Burleson’s hit gave the Cardinals the lead, Ryan Helsley struck out three consecutive batters in the bottom of the ninth to earn his 33rd save.
This was the sixth of eight games between the Cardinals and Pirates this year that ended with a one-run difference, with three of those games won by both teams.
Here’s a breakdown of Tuesday night’s games:
At the plate, the Cardinals allowed just two runners on base against Skenes in the first eight innings. Nolan Gorman hit an infield single with one out in the third inning, then Arenado batted leadoff in the fifth and hit Skenes’ first pitch of the inning over the left field fence for his 10th home run… Skenes struck out the next three batters after the homer and had retired 24 of 26 batters by the ninth inning… Paul Goldschmidt struck out three times.
On the mound, Lance Lynn held the Pirates scoreless for five consecutive innings, surviving bases-loaded situations in the second and fifth innings…Lynn’s strikeout of Jarred Triolo to end the fourth inning was his 2,000th major league strikeout…In the eighth inning, O’Neill Cruz doubled off JoJo Romero with one out and scored on Nick Gonzalez’s single to tie the game. Andrew Kittridge came in to relieve and drove in an inning-ending double play to tie the game…Helsley struck out three batters in the bottom of the ninth on just 13 pitches.
Key Stat: The RBI was Burleson’s 22nd this month, the most in the National League. He has one more RBI than the Phillies’ Trea Turner in July and is batting .347.
Notably, Arenado’s home run gave him bragging rights over Skenes, who also graduated from El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif. Arenado graduated in 2009, Skenes in 2020…The Cardinals officially signed infielder J.J. Weatherholt, their top amateur draft pick earlier this month. Weatherholt is likely to begin his professional career later this week with the Class-A Palm Beach Cardinals…The Cardinals have signed 18 of their 19 draft picks.
Outlook: The Cardinals will start Matthew Liberatore in Wednesday’s day game and will play the series finale out of the bullpen.