Esmerlyn Valdez hit a two-run home run and right-hander Braxton Ashcraft pitched five effective innings Sunday afternoon for the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates in a 5-4 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Jared Triolo added a solo homer, and Brandon Lowe added two hits and an RBI for the Pirates, who finished their road trip by taking two of three in the series and winning for the fourth time in six games overall.
Ashcraft (14-5) allowed two runs, six hits and a walk, along with three strikeouts. He has a 2.13 ERA in six starts in August.
Right-hander Luke Weaver allowed a hit but got three outs in the eighth, and left-hander Mason Montgomery retired Joshua Baez, Ivan Herrera and Alec Burleson in the ninth for his seventh save.
The Cardinals, who placed NL Rookie of the Year candidate JJ Wetherholt on the injured list before the game due to right wrist tendinitis, have dropped seven of nine.
Lowe led off the second inning with a double that bounced off the fence in left, and Valdez followed with an opposite-field homer to right near the pole against left-hander Matthew Liberatore. It was Valdez’s 16th homer overall but only his second this month.
Triolo led off the fifth with a solo homer, his third, to make it 4-0. Liberatore (5-13) has allowed 25 homers in 27 starts. He allowed four runs –three earned– six hits and two walks along with nine strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.
The Pirates were up 5-2 in the seventh before the Cardinals drew closer with a pair of runs against Camilo Doval. They put two more runners in scoring position with two outs, but Bucs righty Yohan Ramirez got Nolan Gorman to fly out.
Bryan Torres had two hits and a walk from the leadoff spot, and Herrera drove in a pair of runs for the Cardinals.
Thomas Saggese had three hits and scored a run filling in for Wetherholt at shortstop. Burleson drove in a run with a single for his 100th RBI of the season.
