When Bucs need a stopper, Ortiz steps up and does what he does best

ST. LOUIS -- One night after the dam broke on the Pirates bullpen, starter Luis Ortiz needed to do Thursday night what he’s been accustomed to this season: making a quality start on the road.

That’s exactly what Ortiz provided.

Ortiz kept the Pirates in the game with six solid innings, allowing the team to rally and snap a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

“My whole focus today was to get weak contact, and the strikeouts showed up,” Ortiz said through an interpreter. “That was not in my mind to strike people out. But making quality pitches, that's what happened.”

Ortiz gave up two runs on five hits while walking two, and his seven strikeouts tied a season high. Over his last two road starts, Ortiz is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA. This season, Ortiz has a 2.86 ERA (20 earned runs in 63 innings) in 18 appearances including seven starts away from PNC Park.

“I thought he looked really sharp,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “Looked really good. He was able to run the cutter and the four-seamer off it. I thought he did a nice job.”

Nick Gonzales’ RBI single in the eighth inning scored Oneil Cruz to snap a 2-2 tie.

“It's good to finish strong,” Gonzales said. “Just hit on all cylinders. Throughout the year, [you’re] going to have ups and downs, and trying to minimize [the downs] as much as I can, trying to stay locked in as much as I can.”

Gonzales has at least one hit in 10 of his 11 career games against the Cardinals. He also extended his on-base streak to a team-leading 10 games, which also ties the longest streak he’s had in his career (Sept. 28, 2023 -- May 17, 2024).

“That shows preparation,” Shelton said. “It shows the ability to follow a plan.”

Brendan Donovan had three of the Cardinals’ five hits against Ortiz and he drove in both of St. Louis’ runs as part of a four-hit night.

“He was taking good at-bats,” Ortiz said. “We were both doing our job, and he won most of the time.”

Cruz helped out Ortiz with a diving catch to rob Masyn Winn of a hit in the bottom of the first. Cruz sprinted towards a sinking liner at 26.2 feet per second and made the play which had a 20% catch probability, according to Statcast.

“That was a heck of a play,” Shelton said. “I mean, I don't know. If that's not a five-star play, what is a five-star play? But good read on it. Good beat.”

Bryan De La Cruz gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the fourth with a sacrifice fly that scored Gonzales, who started the rally with a triple. Yasmani Grandal’s solo homer off Andrew Kittredge in the seventh tied the game up, giving him eight game-tying home runs in his career in the seventh inning or later.

Ortiz’s outing put the Pirates bullpen in a good position to shut the door. Carmen Mlodzinski (4-5) earned the decision with a scoreless seventh. Dennis Santana retired all three batters he faced in the eighth. Aroldis Chapman pitched around a leadoff single by Donovan to earn his 10th save.

It was the 331st career save for Chapman, which moved him past John Wetteland for 16th all time.

“He's had a heck of a career,” Shelton said. “I mean, he's making a very strong case to be a Hall of Famer. He's the all-time left-handed leader as a reliever in strikeouts. This guy just continues to get better with age, and he's very impressive.”