Pirates Dropped By Cardinals as Ashcraft Struggles; First Losing Streak

Danny Demilio |

Apr 28, 2026

Braxton Ashcraft, Pittsburgh Pirates — Photo provided by Matt Lynch

PITTSBURGH — For the first time this season, the Pittsburgh Pirates are on a losing streak.

Braxton Ashcraft had a rare shaky start and the Pirates dropped their third straight game with an 11-7 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on Tuesday night.

Scoring Plays

Top 2nd, 1-0 STL: Nolan Gorman led off the inning with a solo home run to right field off Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft (1-2)

Top 3rd, 3-0 STL: Victor Scott II hit a solo shot that bounced into the Allegheny River on 1-2 curveball left up in the zone. Later in the inning, the Cardinals (16-13) tacked on another when Jordan Walker singled home JJ Wetherholt with two outs.

Top 5th, 6-0 STL: Alec Burleson plated a run with a ground-rule double and Walker added another with a sac fly to center. After Ashcraft exited with a runner on third and one out, Gorman plated the third run of the inning with a sac fly off Hunter Barco.

Bottom 6th, 6-3 STL: Oneil Cruz got the Pirates (16-14) on the board with a solo shot off Cardinals starter Kyle Leahy (3-3). Three batters later, Ryan O’Hearn connected on a two-run shot to cut the deficit in half.

Top 7th, 9-3 STL: The Cardinals answered with three runs off Barco. Walker singled home a run, Gorman had an RBI groundout to first and Masyn Winn delivered a two-out, run scoring single to right field.

Top 8th, 11-3 STL: Burleson added on two more off Barco with a two-run double that split the right-center gap.

Bottom 8th, 11-6 STL: O’Hearn delivered an RBI single off Justin Bruihl and scored on a two-run single off the bat of Nick Gonzales.

Bottom 9th, 11-7 PIT: Konnor Griffin hit his first home run at PNC Park, a solo shot to right-center off Matt Swanson.

Konnor Griffin powers one out for his second MLB homer 😎 pic.twitter.com/JZgJSTqgZH
— MLB (@MLB) April 29, 2026

Key Moment

Despite some unusual shakiness, Ashcraft kept the Pirates in the game through four innings. But the Cardinals blew the game open with a three-run fifth, which resulted in a career-high six earned runs on his line. Pittsburgh could never catch up.

Player of the Game

Alec Burleson sparked a big night for the Cardinals with two doubles, two runs and three RBI, the latter of which tied a season-high.

Stat to Know

For the first time in his career, Braxton Ashcraft allowed multiple home runs in the same game. He had only allowed four home runs in 99.1 total innings entering play.

Notable Performances

Braxton Ashcraft: 4.1 innings, six hits, six runs, three walks, seven strikeouts, 87 pitches/58 strikes
Hunter Barco: 4.2 innings, six hits, five runs, two walks, two strikeouts, 82 pitches/51 strikes
Ryan O’Hearn: 2 for 4, one home run, three RBI, two runs
Oneil Cruz: 2 for 5, one home run, one RBI, one run
Konnor Griffin: 2 for 4, one home run, one RBI, one run
Nick Gonzales: 2 for 4, two RBI
Bryan Reynolds: 2 for 3, two runs, one walk

Noteworthy

Nick Gonzales extended his hitting streak to nine games with a base hit off Kyle Leahy in the bottom of the sixth. He finished 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI and is batting .486 (17 for 35) during his current streak.
The Pirates out-hit the Cardinals 13-12.
This is the first time the Pirates have lost three straight games since last year from Sep. 14-19.
The Pirates reinstated RHP Braxton Ashcraft from the bereavement list, recalled LHP Hunter Barco and optioned RHPs Cam Sanders and Wilber Dotel to Triple-A Indianapolis.

Up Next

RHP Bubba Chandler (1-2, 4.88 ERA) will start for the Pirates on Wednesday night. The Cardinals will send out RHP Andre Pallante (2-2, 4.26 ERA). First pitch: 6:40 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh+/93.7 The Fan.