PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Flaherty allowed four hits over six innings, Matt Carpenter hit his fifth home run of the season and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Saturday.
Flaherty (2-1) followed up a dominant performance against Philadelphia last Sunday by keeping the Pirates in check. Flaherty gave up Starling Marte's long home run in the first but settled down quickly. The rookie struck out four, walked two and didn't allow a runner to third base over his final five innings. Bud Norris worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save.
Carpenter finished 2 for 5, including a blast off Trevor Williams (5-3) leading off the game that cleared the right-field seats. Jose Martinez added three hits for the Cardinals, who bounced back from their most lopsided loss of the season on Friday night to topple the Pirates for the first time in five tries this season.
Williams lasted just four innings and 65 pitches, his shortest start of the season. The right-hander gave up four runs on seven hits with three walks.
Marte went 2 for 4 in his return from a stint on the disabled list with a strained right oblique. His shot off Flaherty in the first cleared both bullpens behind the fence in center field, clanging off a fence 447 feet away from home plate. The Pirates have dropped six of eight.
Flaherty overwhelmed the Phillies last weekend, tying a franchise rookie record when he racked up 13 strikeouts. He wasn't quite as dominant against the Pirates but had little trouble after Marte's blast.
Williams has been Pittsburgh's most consistent starter during the opening two months of the season but struggled from the outset. Carpenter gave the Cardinals the lead two pitches into the game and Martinez followed with a double to right.
Williams only retired the Cardinals in order once, giving up an RBI single to Martinez in the third and a sacrifice fly by Francisco Pena and a run-scoring single by Yairo Munoz in the fourth. Williams' four innings of work marked his briefest outing since he pitched just three innings in a loss to St. Louis last August.