After ending a four-game skid on Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates are now looking to take their midweek series against the Cardinals outright in the decisive game on Thursday in St. Louis.
Ivan Herrera’s walk-off three-run shot was the last of four Cardinals home runs in their 9-6, 10-inning win on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Pittsburgh won 7-0 to record its first shutout in St. Louis since a 5-0 win on April 13, 2023.
Konnor Griffin finished 4-for-5 with three runs, serving as the catalyst for the Pirates’ victory.
Griffin entered the season with a massive weight of expectation surrounding after being named MLB.com’s No. 1 prospect in the preseason. He struggled at the start, hitting .182 in his first 19 games.
On his 20th birthday on April 24, Griffin went 3-for-4 with his first career homer in Pittsburgh’s 6-0 win at Milwaukee. He hasn’t looked back, raising his batting average nearly 100 points to .278 in less than a month.
“Training this offseason, getting ready for moments like this and just being able to do it together, winning games, that’s all we want to do,” Griffin said, according to MLB.com.
Teammate Jake Mangum said of Griffin, “I’m proud of Konnor. He keeps playing good ball, and he’s going to be good for a long time for Pittsburgh. Everybody that pulls for the Pirates, pulls for the Pittsburgh community, they should be really happy that this guy’s going to be here for a long time.”
Braxton Ashcraft (2-2, 3.09 ERA) will start for the Pirates on Thursday. The 26-year-old right-hander is approaching the one-year anniversary of his major league debut, when he came out of the bullpen to throw three shutout innings in the Pirates’ 5-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 26, 2025.
Ashcraft threw 6 2/3 innings and allowed four runs in his latest start, Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies. He took a no-decision in a game Pittsburgh eventually lost 11-9 in 10 innings.
In two career starts against St. Louis, Ashcraft is 0-1 with a 6.30 ERA. He faced the Cardinals on April 28 and got a no-decision after yielding six runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Dustin May (3-4, 4.81 ERA) will take the ball for the Cardinals.
The 28-year-old right-hander didn’t factor in the decision in his latest start, a game St. Louis won 5-4 in 11 innings over the Kansas City Royals on Friday. He allowed three runs on four hits in six frames, walking four and striking out three. The result left him winless in his past four outings.
St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said of May’s work that day, “Overall, I felt like — especially early in that game — the fastball had really good life at the bottom of the zone and he was able to just overpower guys with it.”
May is 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA in his two lifetime starts against the Pirates. He wound up with a no-decision at Pittsburgh on April 27 after throwing six innings of two-run ball.
St. Louis first baseman Alec Burleson and right fielder Jordan Walker were both pulled late in the Wednesday loss after being hit by pitches, but Marmol stressed after the game that those were precautionary moves with the score out of hand.
Marmol said of Walker, “He wanted the at-bat if the game was any closer.”
–Field Level Media
