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Down 5-2 entering the seventh inning, the Cardinals got a look at right-hander Camilo Doval once Pittsburgh removed starter Braxton Ashcraft after he had completed six innings on 71 pitches. The Cardinals scored two runs vs. Doval, with a run apiece scoring on a sacrifice fly from Bryan Torres and a double from Ivan Herrera. Following Herrera's double, they had two runners reach scoring position after a walk by Alec Burleson and a double steal by Herrera and Burleson. 

The chance to take a lead in one of their prime run-scoring opportunities Sunday ended with Jordan Walker striking out swinging against Doval and Nolan Gorman flying out to right field against Yohan Ramirez, who replaced Doval after he allowed two hits and two walks.

In the two innings that followed, all the Cardinals could produce was a leadoff single in the eighth from Jose Fermin. 

The rally in the seventh inning nearly got starter Matthew Liberatore off the hook from an outing stained by two homers. Liberatore allowed four runs (three earned) in 5 2/3 innings while striking out nine batters and walking two on 107 pitches. The lefty surrendered six hits.

The Pirates scored their fifth run in the top of the seventh inning on a single Brandon Lowe hit off Luis Gastelum.

Before his exit with a runner on first base and two outs in the sixth inning, Liberatore received two runs of support. One came on an RBI double from Herrera. The other came on a single by Burleson, which marked Burleson's 100th RBI of the year.

Falling behind in the second

The swing-and-miss results that helped Liberatore end the second inning notched the lefty’s second, third and fourth strikeouts of his start. But the whiffy results came after pitches thrown over the middle of the plate were hit for a double and a homer.

Liberatore left an 84.9 mph slider in a friendly location for Lowe to open the inning. Lowe sent the breaking pitch over left fielder Torres’ head for a double that banged off the outfield wall. Six pitches later, Esmerlyn Valdez saw a 3-2 fastball thrown down the middle and sent it to right field for a two-run homer.

The homer was the 24th Liberatore allowed this season. It came in his 27th start.

Liberatore allowed a single following Valdez’s homer and then notched three consecutive strikeouts on his slider. He used that pitch to strike out Spencer Horowitz; Nick Yorke, against whom Liberatore fell behind 3-0 in the count; and Jared Triolo to keep the damage in the second inning to two runs.

Burleson reaches 100 RBIs

A string of two-out at-bats that included a single by Thomas Saggese, a walk from Torres and an RBI single from Herrera provided Burleson with his second chance to hit with runners in scoring position during Sunday’s game.

Burleson came up empty in the third inning when he hit with runners on second and third base and two outs. Burleson got his bat on a 98.6 mph fastball Ashcraft zipped letter-high. The fly ball traveled 383 feet and was hauled in by Jake Mangum.

In the fifth inning, Burleson took a curveball for a strike before grounding a sinker to right field to score Torres for his 100th RBI of the season. With the RBI single, Burleson became the first Cardinal since 2022 to collect 100 or more RBIs in a season. Paul Goldschmidt, the 2022 National League MVP, and Nolan Arenado, an NL MVP finalist in 2022, both reached the 100-RBI mark that season.

With 97 RBIs entering Sunday, Walker had his chance to join Burleson in the 100-RBI club when he stepped to the plate in the seventh, but that at-bat ended without Walker putting a ball in play.

Homer hurts Liberatore again

After recording a strikeout against six of the 12 batters he faced following Valdez’s homer, Liberatore was hit for a second homer. This time, the homer came off the bat of Triolo.

Triolo sent the second pitch of the fifth inning into the seats of Big Mac Land in left field to extend the Pirates lead to 4-0.

The homer Triolo came on a slider, which was the putaway pitch for six of Liberatore’s nine strikeouts. Liberatore’s slider was responsible for generating eight of his 14 whiffs and was landed for a called strike nine times as it made up 44% of his pitch usage, per Statcast.

But when he threw it to Triolo in a 1-0 count in the fifth inning, it was sent 412 feet.

Error by Urias costs a run

It appeared Liberatore had found a way to work around a leadoff double from Oneil Cruz to get through a scoreless third inning when the lefty used a slider to coax a pop fly from Lowe. 

That was until Urias, a former Gold Glove Award winner at third base, failed to secure the potential inning-ending out.

While battling the sun, Urias drifted toward the outfield grass and backpedaled his way toward the foul line in shallow left field. Urias got his glove on the pop fly but had it kick off his glove and drop to the grass. The mishap allowed Lowe to reach base and Cruz to score to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead on what was Urias’ fifth error of the season.