Braxton Ashcraft battles, but Cardinals pull away from Pirates with 3-run 7th to split series

The Pittsburgh Pirates were positioned for their third consecutive series win but couldn’t overcome their biggest offensive issue: They continue to come up empty with runners in scoring position.

The Pirates went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position, leaving eight runners on base, and stranded runners on third base in the first, second and sixth innings.

The St. Louis Cardinals scored the go-ahead run on Thomas Saggese’s double and pulled away on Jordan Walker’s two-run home run for a 4-1 win Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium.

The Pirates had won six of their previous seven games, taking two of three from the Toronto Blue Jays and sweeping the Colorado Rockies at PNC Park, but split the four-game series with St. Louis. The Pirates (59-76) begin a three-game series at the Boston Red Sox on Friday.

“Leaving guys on third, we’ve got to find a way to get those guys in and produce some runs,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “But I think we did a great job throughout the series with our commitment to the plan and the approach. Overall, it was a good series.”

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Tommy Pham sent Miles Mikolas’ first-pitch fastball 440 feet to left field for his eighth home run, But the Pirates failed to provide any more scoring, despite having multiple chances. Bryan Reynolds was hit by a pitch, then advanced to third on a Nick Gonzales double to left, but both runners were stranded when Oneil Cruz popped up and Joey Bart flied out.

They left a pair of runners in scoring position again in the second, when Jack Suwinski hit a leadoff single to right, and Liover Peguero drew a full-count walk. Both advanced on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s sacrifice bunt, but Mikolas got Spencer Horwitz to ground out and Pham to go down swinging at an elevated fastball.

The Cardinals tied it in the third, when Lars Nootbaar singled to center and scored on Ivan Herrera’s double down the left-field line. Nootbaar was able to score when Herrera was caught between the bases for a 7-6-4-5-3 putout.

In the sixth, Cruz drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on Bart’s groundout and to third on passed ball by catcher Yohel Pozo. But Kyle Leahy got Suwinski swinging at a 2-2 fastball to escape.

Mikolas allowed one run on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts over five innings on 93 pitches, but Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft matched him and took it one step further. The 25-year-old rookie right-hander needed only 73 pitches over 5 2/3 innings, the longest start of his major league career.

Despite Ashcraft not having a good feel for his pitches, Kelly was impressed with Ashcraft’s efficiency — he was at 63 pitches through five innings — and believed he earned the chance to face the Cardinals lineup for a third time despite being on a pitch count.

“He had some more pitches to go,” Kelly said, “so I wanted to challenge him a little bit and give him the opportunity to go out there for the sixth.”

Nootbaar singled to start the sixth — the Pirates challenged that Gonzales’ throw beat him to the bag, but the on-field call was upheld — then recorded two outs before Yohan Ramirez relieved him to face Willson Contreras.

“It was nice to get in the sixth inning again,” said Ashcraft, who hadn’t done so since May 21 with Triple-A Indianapolis. “Being able to do that and maintain what stuff I did have today and get some quick outs, aside from the first hitter, it’s good.”

After striking out five in two scoreless innings in Monday’s 7-6 walk-off loss, Ramirez had command issues from the start. He hit Contreras with a pitch to put runners on first and second but got Nolan Gorman to fly out to center to strand both runners.

The Cardinals hit Ramirez hard in the seventh, taking and extending the lead. Winn drew a leadoff walk, then scored on Saggese’s double off the right-center wall to make it 2-1. Walker followed by smashing a first-pitch sweeper 404 feet to center for his fifth home run, a two-run shot that gave the Cardinals a 4-1 lead.

“It didn’t look like a terrible pitch Walker hit,” Kelly said, “Just a strong kid and he got it elevated.”

With two outs in the eight, Riley O’Brien hit Cruz with a pitch. Cruz put himself in scoring position by swiping second for his 35th stolen base of the season, but Bart grounded out to first to end the frame.

“There’s a lot of good to take from today,” Ashcraft said. “Obviously, we want to get the win. That’s the main priority. But splitting the series here, it’s a good win for us.”