Cardinals 5, Pirates 1: Liberatore's Last Start, Then the Third

One homer from Lowe, then St. Louis took the game

September 23, 2026 - Pittsburgh - Brandon Lowe hit his 34th in the second, a fly to right-center, and PNC Park had a 1-0. It lasted one inning. The St. Louis Cardinals scored three in the third, two more in the fourth, and beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-1.

Partly cloudy. 63 degrees. Wind 12 mph in from center. First pitch 6:41 p.m. Attendance 13,176. The game lasted 2 hours, 51 minutes. St. Louis had 10 hits and no errors. Pittsburgh had six hits and none.

Matthew Liberatore (6-14) made his last start of the year. He threw 5 2/3: six hits, one earned, no walks, six strikeouts, 81 pitches, 53 strikes. Lowe's homer was the only run. Luis Gastelum, Ryne Stanek, and George Soriano threw 3 1/3 scoreless behind him.

Oliver Marmol called the season a rebuild before the game, after a reporter tried to soften the word. "That's exactly what it is," Marmol said. "It's a rebuild." Wednesday was one of the nights that made 162 more fun than the standings suggested.

Wetherholt, Burleson, Bernal

Lake Bachar had thrown 1 2/3 scoreless. Brandon Eisert (3-3) inherited the third and did not get out of it. JJ Wetherholt singled. Iván Herrera walked. Alec Burleson singled to center, Wetherholt scoring, Herrera to third. 1-1. Jordan Walker popped out. Leo Bernal singled to right. Burleson scored, and the inning went from 1-1 to 3-1.

Eisert lasted 2/3 of an inning: two hits, three earned, one walk, one strikeout, 18 pitches. Khristian Curtis inherited the mess and then inherited the fourth. José Fermín was on. Masyn Winn doubled him home, a fly to center. 4-1. Wetherholt singled Winn home. 5-1. That was the last run of the night.

Wetherholt finished 3-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI. Burleson went 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run. Winn went 1-for-3 with the double, a walk, a run, and an RBI. Fermín went 2-for-4. Bernal went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Herrera walked and scored. Walker singled and stole. Nolan Gorman walked. Nathan Church went 0-for-4. Victor Scott II stole a base after a late entry.

Liberatore, then three zeroes

Liberatore is 6-14. The win does not fix the record. It does close his year with six punchouts and one run in a park that had just watched Lowe go deep. Pittsburgh put six hits on him and never walked. Ryan O'Hearn doubled twice. Nick Gonzales singled. Jared Triolo singled. Konnor Griffin, Rafael Flores Jr., Bryan Reynolds, Ronny Simon, and Jake Mangum did not get a hit. Reynolds walked. Lowe's homer was the entire Pirate offense.

Gastelum threw 1 1/3 perfect. Stanek threw a scoreless eighth, one strikeout. Soriano threw a scoreless ninth, two strikeouts and a walk. Pittsburgh left five on. St. Louis left seven on and did not need a sixth run.

Antwone Kelly threw two scoreless after Curtis. Kirby Yates threw a scoreless ninth. The Pirates' bullpen stopped the bleeding after 5-1. It could not unwrite the third and fourth.

Marmol talked about winning games without making progress, and about making progress even when 90 wins is what October requires in the National League this year. The Cardinals traded relief help at the deadline on purpose. They are 77-81. Pittsburgh is 80-78. Neither club is hosting a Wild Card series. St. Louis still took the night.

"I think, obviously, you want to win as many games as possible, but you can win games without making progress in the areas you want to make progress in," Marmol said. "What's more important is that the areas that we were hoping to take some real strides in, we did, and we found out a lot about what we currently have and what we don't have."

A 5-1 that looked like the version Marmol described

Ten hits. No homers from the Cardinals. Three singles and a double did the scoring. Liberatore's last start did not need to be a complete game. It needed to be better than one run, and it was.

Lowe's 34th was a real swing. It was also the last time Pittsburgh led. Wetherholt's 3-for-4 is the line that will sit on the St. Louis side of the box. Bernal's single is the play that turned a tie into a 3-1. Winn's double is the one that made it a four-run night.

Four games left. A rebuild still has to play them. Wednesday was one the Cardinals can file under the part Marmol said made 162 more fun.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put St. Louis at 12 team fantasy points, tied for fifth on the slate. Liberatore had 13.66 pitching FP. Pittsburgh finished at minus-4.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

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*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*