Goldschmidt powers Cardinals to sweep of Pirates

[July 26, 2019]  Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run for the fourth straight game, one of three St. Louis homers Thursday, as the visiting Cardinals defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 to complete a four-game series sweep.

Kolten Wong and Dexter Fowler also homered for St. Louis, which has won 11 of its past 13 games. Starling Marte had an RBI double and scored a run for Pittsburgh, which has lost five consecutive and is 2-11 since the All-Star break.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas (7-10) pitched six innings, allowing three runs and five hits, with one walk and five strikeouts.

Pittsburgh starter Joe Musgrove (7-9) went five innings, giving up six runs (five earned), and seven hits, including all three homers, with two strikeouts and one walk.

St. Louis picked up where it left off in Wednesday's 14-8 win, scoring two runs in the first.

Tommy Edman led off the game with a double to right. An out later, Jose Martinez singled up the middle to bring Edman home. Goldschmidt's base hit moved Martinez to third, and Paul DeJong made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Pittsburgh closed it to 2-1 in the third. Jacob Stallings led off with a single to center, moved to second on Musgrove's bunt, to third on Adam Frazier's base hit and scored on Bryan Reynolds' sacrifice fly.

Cardinals celebrate a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports

In the fourth, Goldschmidt led off with his 22nd homer, to center, to make it 3-1. That gave him his first career four-game homer streak. He also has homered in five straight games against the Pirates. An out later, Wong homered to right, his eighth of the year, for a 4-1 lead.

Edman reached on Pittsburgh first baseman Josh Bell's throwing error to open the fifth. Fowler then hit a home run to center, his 11th, to push the lead to 6-1.

The Pirates drew to within 6-3 in the sixth. Reynolds led off with a single to left and scored on Marte's double to left. Marte advanced on Bell's groundout and scored on Colin Moran's groundout.

--Field Level Media

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