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Starting at shortstop in place Masyn Winn while he nursed a left ankle injury, Jose Barrero provided a jolt to give the Cardinals their first run on Monday at Busch Stadium against the Pirates. He then delivered again three innings later with an early attack that extended a lead powered by Willson Contreras.

When he stepped to the plate in the sixth inning with one out and the bases loaded after he hit a solo home run in the third, Barrero drove a first-pitch sweeper from Chase Shugart to deep left field and had it bounce over the wall for a ground rule double that plated two runs. Barrero’s two-run double came amid a four-run inning kicked off by Contreras, who belted a two-run home run on a ball that came off his bat at 111.4 mph, per Statcast.

The four-run frame lifted the Cardinals from a 3-2 deficit and into a 6-3 lead to notch a series-opening win against Pittsburgh.

After rookie Gordon Graceffo, who was promoted from Class AAA Memphis on Monday, completed a scoreless inning of relief in the sixth inning, Kyle Leahy, Phil Maton, and Ryan Helsley each completed an inning. Helsley’s outing to seal the 6-3 win notched him his sixth save in eight opportunities.

Their work came in relief of Miles Mikolas.

Having kept opposing teams scoreless in his two starts prior to Monday’s, Mikolas allowed three runs in a five-inning outing that took 84 pitches to complete. The first of the two runs Mikolas allowed came on a two-run homer in the first inning from Bryan Reynolds. Reynolds sent a slider Mikolas off the foul pole in right field. Mikolas received an inning-ending double play to end the fourth inning after he loaded the bases and allowed a run earlier in the frame.

The Cardinals also received an RBI from Alec Burleson on his second home run of the season. A game after snapping a streak of 226 at-bats without a home run, Burleson collected his second home run of the season on a 435-foot solo homer to right-center field with one out in the second inning.

A close play at the plate

The Cardinals had their four-run inning in the sixth end on a play at the plate that involved the Cardinals’ fleet-footed center fielder and the Pirates’ strong-throwing center fielder.

On a fly ball Lars Nootbaar hit 262 feet to center fielder Oneil Cruz, Victor Scott II tested the former shortstop’s throwing arm by tagging up and sprinting to home plate.

Cruz, who came in on the fly ball and had some momentum behind his throw, delivered a throw to home plate that one-hopped Joey Bart. Bart had to come across home plate to field that ball and applied his tag on Scott, who dove in headfirst.

Scott was called out by home plate umpire Andy Fletcher. The play was close enough for the Cardinals to challenge.

Although it appeared Scott may have slid under Bart’s tag, the call on the field stood. A review on whether Bart’s positioning prevented Scott from a clear lane to home plate was upheld and Scott remained out in the inning-ending play.

Barrero’s long-awaited homer

Barrero’s last home run before his leadoff homer in the third inning came on May 30, 2023, when he was a member of the Reds. Barrero spent the 2024 season with the Rangers’ Class AAA affiliate but was limited to 49 games because of an injury and did not reach the majors with Texas.

The Cardinals inked Barrero to a minor league deal this past November when he hit free agency. The 27-year-old spent time in big-league camp as a non-roster invitee and was a candidate to fill a bench role on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s roster for opening day but missed the cut. He spent the first month of the minor league season in Class AAA where he homered four times in 23 games before being promoted to the majors on April 28.

In the first at-bat of his sixth game since being called to the majors, Barrero drove a 95.9 mph fastball from Pirates starter Carmen Mlodzinski into the visitor’s bullpen to give the Cardinals their first run of the game.

The home run represented Barrero’s second hit since he returned to the majors.

Pages nabs Cruz

Successful on all 14 of his steal attempts to start the season, Cruz had his perfect stretch on the base paths snapped on attempt No. 15. It was Pedro Pages who thwarted it.

Cruz reached base on a hit by pitch to begin the third inning and didn’t wait long to try to nab his 15th base. Cruz made a jump for second base on Mikolas’s first pitch that Reynolds was taking all the way.

From his one-knee down set up, Pages received Mikolas’s fastball low-and-away from the left-handed Reynolds. Pages popped up to his feet and fired to Barrero who covered the bag. Pages’s throw tailed behind Barrero, who had both feet positioned in front of second base. Barrero snagged the throw and applied a tag to Cruz’s left shoulder for the caught stealing.

While that was Cruz’s first failed steal attempt of the year, Pages’s caught stealing was his seventh on 20 steal attempts against him.