Grandal homers, Gonzales gets an RBI single in the 8th to push Pittsburgh past St. Louis 3-2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Yasmani Grandal homered, Nick Gonzales drove in the winning run with a single in the eighth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Pirates starter Luis Ortiz allowed two runs on five hits and had seven strikeouts in six innings.

“My whole focus today was to get weak contact, and the strikeouts showed up,” Ortiz said via an interpreter. “That was not in my mind to strike people out, but making quality pitches, that’s what happened and we’re pretty happy.”

Carmen Mlodzinski (4-5) and Dennis Santana each tossed a scoreless inning, and Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth to earn his 10th save in 15 chances. It was Chapman's 331st career save moving him past John Wetteland for the 16th most in major league history.

“He's had a heck of a career,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “He's making a very strong case to be a Hall of Famer. He's the all-time left-handed leader as a reliever in strikeouts. This guy just continues to get better with age. He's very impressive.”

Cardinals starter Erick Fedde allowed one run on four hits and struck out three.

“There's still some room to improve on my movement," Fedde said. ”I felt like things were really late today just in the sense of kind of the swings I was getting. They seemed a little more defensive than they have been, and to that means my stuff's going to be late and a little harder to see. That's a great sign."

St. Louis (77-76) fell to eight games behind the New York Mets (85-68) in the National League wild-card race, and will be mathematically eliminated from postseason contention with either one more loss or a Mets win.

Gonzales singled up the middle off Ryan Fernandez who entered the game after JoJo Romero (7-3) walked pinch hitter Connor Joe with two outs in the top of the eighth.

“Someone told me about how DJ Lemahieu kind of takes every AB the same, how it's the most important AB no matter what the count, no matter what the situation,” Gonzales said. “I just try to do that the best that I can so every single at-bat I have kind of feels the same. Obviously, emotions get going, but I'm just trying my best to just make every single AB as important as the next and trying to lock in and not trying to do too much.”

Grandal hit his eighth home run of the season to right field in the seventh inning to tie the game 2-2.

Brendan Donovan hit an RBI single to left in the fourth inning to tie the game 1-1, then drove in another run with a double to the left-center field gap in the sixth inning to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. He now has a hit in all 18 home games he has played against Pittsburgh to start his career.

Gonzales lined a triple to right field that Jordan Walker had trouble corralling and scored on Bryan De La Cruz’s sacrifice fly to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

TRANSACTION

Pittsburgh purchased the contract of RHP Isaac Mattson from Triple-A Indianapolis. Mattson has not appeared in a major league game since pitching for Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2021, in Toronto. RHP Jake Woodford was designated for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: C Endy Rodríguez (right elbow surgery) batted third as the designated hitter for Indianapolis in a rehab appearance at St. Paul.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (11-10, 3.87 ERA) is scheduled to face Reds RHP Nick Martinez (9-6, 3.37 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series in Cincinnati on Friday night.

Cardinals: RHP Kyle Gibson (8-7, 4.11 ERA) will oppose Guardians RHP Ben Lively (12-9, 3.87 ERA) in the opener of St. Louis’ final home series of the season on Friday night.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan runs on his RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt, center, is congratulated by teammates after scoring during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan, foreground, looks toward the dugout after hitting an RBI double during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan hits an RBI double during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Oneil Cruz sits on first base as he waits for a St. Louis Cardinals pitching change to be completed during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Connor Joe hits a single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Nick Gonzales hits an RBI single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Yasmani Grandal, left, is congratulated by third base coach Mike Rabelo, right, as he runs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — New Zealand dismissed India for 102 to surprisingly win by 58 runs in the Women's T20 World Cup on Friday.

Also, South Africa pasted the West Indies by 10 wickets.

New Zealand posted a challenging 160-4 and then rolled India in 19 overs for its only second win in 14 T20s this year.

Captain Sophie Devine's unbeaten 57 off 36 balls with seven boundaries propelled New Zealand’s total in the last five overs.

A run-out dispute stopped play briefly when India thought it caught Amelia Kerr well short of her crease at the striker’s end in the 14th over before the umpires ruled a dead ball. Kerr had walked to almost the rope boundary before the ruling by the fourth umpire.

Devine's strong finish followed a strong foundation of 67 off 46 balls by openers Georgia Plimmer (34) and Suzie Bates (27).

Plimmer and Bates perished while looking for big hits, but India's hope of a comeback was stymied by Devine raising her fourth T20 half-century off 33 balls. New Zealand racked up 51 off the last five overs.

Rosemary Mair trapped India captain Harmanpreet Kaur inside the power play in a scene-stealing 4-19. Mair claimed the last two wickets off successive balls, and fast bowler Lea Tahuhu chipped in with 3-15 to help bundle out India with an over to spare.

Eden Carsen struck off her first delivery with a caught-and-bowled of Shafali Verma, and in her next over dismissed Smriti Mandhana on 12. India couldn’t recover after the dismissal of its senior pros inside the power play.

Captain Laura Wolvaardt (59 not out) and Tazmin Brits (57 not out) made light work of South Africa's chase, reaching 119 without loss with 13 balls to spare.

Left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba grabbed a career-best 4-29 as the West Indies was restricted to 118-6.

West Indies tried eight bowlers to try and prise out Wolvaardt and Brits, who struck 13 boundaries between them.

Spinner Karishma Ramharack came closest to the breakthrough but couldn’t hold on to a sharp return catch when Wolvaardt was on 33.

Earlier, West Indies captain Hayley Matthews feathered an easy catch behind on 10 while going for a drive against Marizanne Kapp in the third over.

Veteran Deandra Dottin lasted for 11 deliveries and scored 13 in her comeback game after two years out before she was caught by Wolvaardt at extra cover while trying to clear the circle against Kapp’s full-pitched delivery.

Mlaba squeezed the West Indies middle order and was on a hat trick after dismissing Shemaine Campbelle and Chinelle Henry to reduce them to 83-6 in 15 overs.

Stafanie Taylor (44 not out) and Zaida James (15) added 35 runs off the final 29 balls but their total never looked enough.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

New Zealand's Suzie Bates bats during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

New Zealand's Suzie Bates bats during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur, left, celebrates with her teammate Asha Sobhana celebrates after she took the wicket of New Zealand's Georgia Plimmer during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India's Asha Sobhana, right, celebrates after taking the wicket of New Zealand's Georgia Plimmer, left, during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India's wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, right, unsuccessfully tries to run out New Zealand's Amelia Kerr during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

New Zealand's Brooke Halliday bats during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

New Zealand's captain Sophie Devine celebrates her fifty runs during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

New Zealand team members congratulate Eden Carson, third from left, after she took the wicket of India's Smriti Mandhana during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

New Zealand's Lea Tahuhu bowls during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

New Zealand's Lea Tahuhu, second from right, celebrates the wicket of India's Jemimah Rodrigues with her teammates during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and New Zealand at Dubai International Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)