Tommy Edman hits game-ending single as Cardinals beat Pirates 5-4

ST. LOUIS – Tommy Edman hit an RBI single in the 10th inning, sending the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

With runners on first and second and one out, Nolan Gorman drove in Paul Goldschmidt with a tying double. Lars Nootbaar was walked intentionally by Wil Crowe (0-1) and rookie Jordan Walker struck out before Edman singled back up the middle.

It was Edman’s third career game-ending hit. He went 2 for 5 on the day as St. Louis salvaged a split of the four-game series.

Nootbaar hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, and Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Gorman each had two hits.

Drew VerHagen (1-0) got three outs for the win, allowing an unearned run in the top of the 10th on Canaan Smith-Njigba‘s groundout to first.

Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings. The starting pitchers for the Pirates have gone at least six innings in the last six games for the franchise’s longest such streak since April 10-19, 2019, when they had an eight-game run.

St. Louis put runners at second and third with none out in the eighth, but Colin Holderman worked out of the jam. He struck out Contreras and Gorman. After Nootbaar was walked intentionally, Walker flied out to center.

Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas was charged with three runs, two earned, and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

St. Louis outfielder Alec Burleson left in the third inning after fouling a pitch off his shin. He is day to day.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: RHP Adam Wainwright (groin) threw a 45-pitch bullpen session on Friday. He could make a minor league rehab start sometime this week.

UP NEXT

Pirates: LHP Rich Hill (0-2, 7.20 ERA) will face Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (2-0, 0.96 ERA) on Monday in the opener of a three-game series at Colorado. The 43-year-old Hill is 1-4 with a 5.68 ERA in seven career starts against the Rockies.

Cardinals: RHP Jack Flaherty (1-1, 1.76 ERA) will take on Arizona RHP Merrill Kelly (0-2, 2.93 ERA) in the first of a three-game set on Monday in St. Louis. The Cardinals are 0-5 in series openers this season.

CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”