Alec Burleson hit a go-ahead RBI single in the top of the ninth as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-1 on Tuesday to give rookie sensation Paul Skenes his first career major league loss.
Nolan Arenado hit a solo home run for the Cardinals, who evened a three-game series at a victory apiece.
Cardinals starter Lance Lynn blanked the Pirates for five innings, giving up four hits and walking three. He fanned two and now has 2,000 strikeouts in his career. Only five active pitchers have more strikeouts than Lynn.
Ryan Fernandez (1-2) earned his first big-league victory and Ryan Helsley earned his 33rd save of the season for St. Louis.
Skenes (6-1) allowed two runs on four hits in a career-high 8 1/3 innings. He struck out eight and didn’t issue a walk.
Lynn worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. Rowdy Tellez drew a leadoff walk, Jack Suwinski lined a two-out single to left and Yasmani Grandal smacked an infield single.
But Lynn got Andrew McCutchen to fly out to prevent Pittsburgh from getting on the board.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead when Arenado opened the fifth inning with his homer, his 10th of the year.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases again in the bottom of the frame. Suwinski hit a leadoff double, Bryan Reynolds drew a two-out walk and the runners each advanced a base on a wild pitch.
After Lynn walked Oneil Cruz, the right-hander escaped the inning unscathed by retiring Nick Gonzales on a dribbler down the third base line.
The Pirates tied the game at 1-1 in the eighth inning, as Cruz hit a one-out double off JoJo Romero and scored on Gonzales’ single up the middle.
However, St. Louis moved ahead 2-1 in the ninth inning. Michael Siani led off with a double, moved to third on Masyn Winn’s groundout to second and scored on Burleson’s single.