Jack Suwinski scored on a ninth-inning fielder's choice and Andrew McCutchen subsequently raced home on a sacrifice fly, fueling the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Pittsburgh rookie Paul Skenes allowed five hits and struck out eight over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. He exited to a standing ovation at Busch Stadium in St. Louis after tossing 103 pitches, the most over his first six starts of his career.

St. Louis' Miles Mikolas retired the first 16 batters he faced before issuing a walk to Yasmani Grandal in the sixth inning as the game was scoreless through eight innings.

Mikolas' bid for a no-hitter ended after Bryan Reynolds led off the seventh with a triple. However, after hitting Connor Joe with a pitch, Mikolas struck out Oneil Cruz and third baseman Nolan Arenado made a diving snag of a liner and doubled up Reynolds to end the inning.

Mikolas settled for a no-decision despite allowing just that one hit and striking out six with one walk over seven innings.

Ryan Helsley (2-3) sandwiched walks around McCutchen's single to load the bases with no outs in the ninth inning before Suwinski beat the throw home from rookie shortstop Masyn Wynn on Joe's grounder. McCutchen gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead when Cruz flied out in the following plate appearance.

Colin Holderman (2-0) worked around two hits to toss one scoreless inning and pick up the win.

Pittsburgh closer David Bednar saw Nolan Gorman deposit his first pitch over the wall in right-center field to lead off the ninth inning. Bednar, however, struck out two batters, allowed two baserunners, then retired Michael Siani on a foulout to third to secure his 14th save of the season.

The Pirates mustered just three hits en route to winning for the fifth time in seven games.

Gorman's homer was his team-leading 15th of the season. Alec Burleson had three singles and Nolan Arenado added two hits for the Cardinals, who have lost seven of their past 11 games.

--Field Level Media