Cardinals Crush Pirates Saturday Night

PITTSBURGH — 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. The Cardinals have scored 61 runs in the six games Flaherty has started this season. 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 RBI for Pittsburgh, which lost its third straight game. Cahill lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks.