Flaherty goes to 5-0, DeJong homers as Cards beat Pirates

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Flaherty pitched six solid innings to keep his record perfect and Paul DeJong hit a three-run homer in the first inning to send the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-5 on Saturday night.

Flaherty (5-0) struck out nine while winning his fifth straight start. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks and improved to 7-1 in 10 career starts against the Pirates.

DeJong’s drive off Trevor Cahill (1-3) capped a four-run first. The first run of the inning scored when Tommy Edman hit a leadoff double and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s one-out single.

“It was big, especially with two guys on,” said DeJong, who was hitting .165 coming into the game. “It really added some momentum to our team and gave Jack some space to go out there for the first inning.”

The Cardinals have scored 61 runs in the six games Flaherty has started this season.

“It’s crazy but when you get a lead like that you’ve got to make it count,” Flaherty said. “There have been times where I haven’t done a good job of attacking when I get those leads but I felt like I did a better job of it today. And give our offense credit because they kept adding on.”

St. Louis won for the seventh time in nine games. The Cardinals have also won six games in a row at Pittsburgh and 14 of their last 16 at PNC Park.

Edman, Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado each had three of the Cardinals’ 15 hits. Arenado drove in three runs with a two-run, bloop double in the seventh inning that put St. Louis ahead 7-3 and an RBI triple in a five-run ninth.

Rookie Justin Williams capped the ninth-inning outburst with a pinch-hit, two-run homer.

Colin Moran had three hits and two RBIs for Pittsburgh, which lost its third straight game.

Cahill lasted 5 1/3...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Flaherty-goes-to-5-0-DeJong-homers-as-Cards-beat-16145006.php