Pirates jump ahead early, take down Cardinals

Henry Davis hit a homer and drove in two runs as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 8-3 Tuesday night.

Andrew McCutchen drove in two runs and Bryan Reynolds hit two doubles, scored twice and drove in a run for the Pirates, who won for the fifth time in their last six games.

Pirates starter Mitch Keller (6-12) allowed three runs on three hits in six innings. He struck out nine batters and walked one.

Kyle Nicholas threw two scoreless innings for Pittsburgh and Isaac Mattson closed out the ninth inning.

Nolan Gorman hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who lost for the ninth time in 13 games.

Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante (6-12) allowed eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits in five innings.

The Pirates bolted to a 5-0 first-inning lead. Jared Triolo and Spencer Horwitz hit singles to open the game, then came Reynolds' RBI double.

After Oneil Cruz walked to load the bases, McCutchen hit a two-run single, Jack Suwinski drove in a run with a ground rule double, then Davis hit a sacrifice fly to cap the outburst.

Pittsburgh increased its lead to 7-0 in the second inning. Horwitz hit a single and scored when Cardinals center fielder Lars Nootbaar accidentally kicked Reynolds' double.

Reynolds went to third base on that error and scored on Cruz's groundout.

Davis' homer in the third inning made it 8-0.

The Cardinals cut the margin to 8-2 in the fourth inning. Willson Contreras was hit by a pitch and Gorman hit his home run.

Keller walked Nootbaar and hit Ivan Herrera with a pitch to start the sixth inning. After the runners moved up on a groundout, Contreras hit a run-scoring grounder to cut the margin to 8-3.

--Field Level Media