Tommy Edman hits bases-loaded single in 10th to lift Cardinals to walk-off win over Pirates

Andrew McCutchen came through in the 10th inning again for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This time, the St. Louis Cardinals had an answer.

Tommy Edman hit a bases-loaded single to score Tyler O’Neill and lift the Cardinals to a 5-4 walk-off win over the Pirates on Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium for a split of their four-game series.

“We played well,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said on the AT&T SportsNet postgame show. “A ball here and there and we end up with a series win. We kept going throughout the game. We just didn’t get the big hit.”

A day after McCutchen hit the winning, two-run home run, he scored the go-ahead run with his baserunning. McCutchen started as the automatic runner, advanced to third on Carlos Santana’s groundout and scored when Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt bobbled Canaan Smith-Njigba’s grounder.

The Cardinals tied it at 4-4 in the bottom of the 10th when Nolan Gorman hit a ground-rule double off Wil Crowe to right to score automatic runner Goldschmidt. Crowe walked Willson Contreras on a full-count changeup in the dirt, and O’Neill pinch-ran for Contreras. Gorman followed with a double, and Crowe intentionally walked Lars Nootbaar to load the bases with one out. Crowe got Jordan Walker looking at a called third strike but Edman, who was 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position, hit Crowe’s first-pitch changeup through the middle.

The Cardinals had only one previous bases-loaded hit this season.

“I think the big thing is the walk,” Shelton said. “We can’t walk Contreras there. That’s what ends up killing us.”

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas was one strike shy of throwing a no-hitter against the Pirates last June 14 in St. Louis, but Ke’Bryan Hayes ended any possibility of a repeat performance with a leadoff triple when center fielder Nootbaar missed on a diving attempt. Bryan Reynolds hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Hayes for a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the first, when Contreras singled to score Goldschmidt.

Jack Suwinski, who went 2 for 3, singled and scored from second on an Austin Hedges single to give the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the second inning. The Pirates stretched it to 3-1 when Smith-Njigba reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third when Rodolfo Castro hit a full-count curveball to left and scored on Cardinals second baseman Brendan Donovan’s error on a Tucupita Marcano grounder.

Despite not being as crisp as he wanted, right-hander Mitch Keller relied on his sinker and cutter to give the Pirates their sixth consecutive quality start. The right-hander allowed only one run through the first five innings but gave up a double to Contreras and a two-run homer to Nootbaar, who hit a first-pitch cutter 382 feet to right to tie it, 3-3, in the sixth.

“Lars put a good swing on it,” Keller said. “I thought I executed the pitch where I wanted to. He just made a better swing.”

The Pirates loaded the bases in the seventh, but when the Cardinals brought in lefty reliever Zack Thompson, the Pirates countered by having Connor Joe pinch-hit for Suwinski with two outs, and Joe lined out to center.

Colin Holderman intentionally walked Nootbaar to load the bases in the eighth, then got rookie Walker to fly out to center to escape unscathed.

Donovan reached on a soft infield single in the ninth, beating Marcano’s throw, but was forced out when shortstop Castro threw to Marcano at second. The Cardinals challenged the call, but it was upheld after review. David Bednar got Dylan Carlson to pop up to catcher Austin Hedges and Goldschmidt to ground into a fielder’s choice.

That set up the 10th inning, when the Pirates scored the go-ahead run but lost on Edman’s walk-off.

“We’re getting better. That’s the thing that’s most important,” Shelton said. “We’re continuing to do little things. We just didn’t get that hit.”