St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates
· Major League Baseball
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Jones takes perfect game into the 6th, Pirates top Cardinals 2-0 for 5th straight win
The hard-throwing Jones (5-6) retired the first 16 batters he faced before Nathan Church's bloop landed just beyond the outstretched glove of Pirates third baseman Jacob Gonzalez with one out in the sixth. Church sprinted to second for a double but remained there after Masyn Wynn lined out and J.J. Wetherholt struck out to end the inning.
Jones, who returned from Tommy John surgery in late May, tied a season high with nine strikeouts in seven innings and improved to 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four starts in September. Gregory Soto worked around a leadoff walk to record his 16th save.
Ryan O'Hearn delivered an RBI-single for the Pirates and rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin had two hits for Pittsburgh, and Bryan Reynolds added his major league-leading 40th double. The Pirates have won five straight to improve to 80-77 with five games remaining. Pittsburgh is seeking its first winning campaign since going 82-79 in 2018.
Andre Pallant (12-8) nearly matched Jones pitch for pitch in six innings of work. The right-hander's only hiccup came in the sixth, when Oneil Cruz walked with one out, moved to second on a fielder's choice and scored on O'Hearn's sharp single to left. Pallant is just 2-2 in 10 starts since the All-Star break despite pitching to a 3.00 ERA over that span.
The Cardinals fell to 76-81 with the loss. If St. Louis doesn't win out, the franchise will experience consecutive losing seasons for the first time since 1958 and 1959, the second-longest stretch between consecutive losing years in the history of major North American professional sports.
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- TV Channel: Cardinals at Pirates 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
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Scoring Summary
 |
9th Inning | Burleson flied out to left. |
|
9th Inning | Herrera struck out swinging. |
|
9th Inning | Wetherholt struck out looking. |
|
9th Inning | Winn walked. |
 |
9th Inning | Soto relieved Weaver |
|
9th Inning | Cook in right field. |
Statistics
 STL |
 PIT |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Games Played | 1 |
| 1 | Team Games Played | 1 |
| 0 | Hit By Pitch | 0 |
| 3 | Ground Balls | 14 |
| 14 | Strikeouts | 4 |
| 0 | Runs Batted In | 1 |
| 0 | Sacrifice Hit | 0 |
| 1 | Hits | 5 |
| 0 | Stolen Bases | 1 |
| 2 | Walks | 3 |
| 0 | Catcher Interference | 1 |
| 0 | Runs | 2 |
| 0 | Ground Into Double Play | 0 |
| 0 | Sacrifice Flies | 0 |
| 28 | At Bats | 29 |
| 0 | Home Runs | 0 |
| 0 | Grand Slam Home Runs | 0 |
| 6 | Runners Left On Base | 17 |
| 0 | Triples | 1 |
| 0 | Game Winning RBIs | 1 |
| 0 | Intentional Walks | 0 |
| 1 | Doubles | 2 |
| 11 | Fly Balls | 11 |
| 0 | Caught Stealing | 0 |
| 125 | Pitches | 130 |
| 0 | Games Started | 0 |
| 0 | Pinch At Bats | 1 |
| 0 | Pinch Hits | 0 |
| 0.0 | Player Rating | 0.0 |
| 1 | Is Qualified | 1 |
| 0 | Is Qualified In Steals | 1 |
| 2 | Total Bases | 9 |
| 30 | Plate Appearances | 33 |
| 0.0 | Projected Home Runs | 0.0 |
| 1 | Extra Base Hits | 3 |
| -1.4 | Runs Created | 2.5 |
| .036 | Batting Average | .172 |
| .000 | Pinch Hit Average | .000 |
| .071 | Slugging Percentage | .310 |
| .107 | Secondary Average | .276 |
| .100 | On Base Percentage | .250 |
| .171 | OBP Pct + SLG Pct | .560 |
| 0.3 | Ground To Fly Ball Ratio | 1.3 |
| -1.4 | Runs Created Per 27 Outs | 2.8 |
| 3.0 | Batter Rating | 18.5 |
| 0.0 | At Bats Per Home Run | 0.0 |
| 0.00 | Stolen Base Percentage | 1.00 |
| 4.17 | Pitches Per Plate Appearance | 3.94 |
| .036 | Isolated Power | .138 |
| 0.14 | Walk To Strikeout Ratio | 0.75 |
| .067 | Walks Per Plate Appearance | .091 |
| .071 | Secondary Average Minus Batting Average | .103 |
| 0.0 | Runs Produced | 3.0 |
| 0.0 | Runs Ratio | 0.5 |
| 0.1 | Patience Ratio | 0.4 |
| 0.1 | Balls In Play Average | 0.2 |
| 52.3 | MLB Rating | 70.0 |
| 0.0 | Offensive Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
| 0.0 | Wins Above Replacement | 0.0 |
Game Information
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 11,375 | Capacity:
2026 National League Central Standings
| TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Milwaukee |
- | 59 | W5 | 0.63580245 | 103 |
 Chicago |
14 | 73 | W1 | 0.5493827 | 89 |
| Pittsburgh |
21 | 80 | W1 | 0.50617284 | 82 |
| St. Louis |
26 | 85 | L4 | 0.47530866 | 77 |
 Cincinnati |
28 | 87 | L1 | 0.46296296 | 75 |