Lyles shines as Pirates quiet Cardinals

Jordan Lyles allowed one run and one hit in six innings, and the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates quieted the bats of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second straight day in a 2-1 win Saturday. Lyles (3-1) struck out six and walked three while lowering his ERA to 2.09.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas took the mound after a nearly three-hour rain delay in the third game of the four-game series. Mikolas (4-3) went seven innings, allowing two runs and three hits, striking out seven and walking one. Mikolas had allowed just one earned run over 13 innings in his previous two starts.

Richard Rodriguez relieved Lyles and got the first two outs in the seventh before Francisco Liriano came in and got Dexter Fowler to ground out to end the inning. Kyle Crick gave up two walks and a single in the eighth, but stranded all three runners. Felipe Vazquez pitched a 1-2-3 the ninth for his 12th save.

Lyles needed 30 pitches to get through four batters in a scoreless first inning. He got the first two outs in the third, but then walked Paul Goldschmidt and gave up a run-scoring double to Paul DeJong for a 1-0 lead. It was the only hit through the first seven innings for the Cardinals, who scored 17 runs in the series opener on Thursday night before losing 2-1 Friday.

The Pirates got two runs back in the fourth inning to move ahead. Starling Marte led off with a single and then came home when Gregory Polanco hit a line drive that got through the right-center field gap and rolled to the wall for a triple.

Josh Bell followed with a single to center, scoring Polanco for a 2-1 lead and extending his hitting streak to 11 games. Mikolas retired 12 in a row after that, striking out the side in the fifth inning.

--Field Level Media

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