ST. LOUIS (Interstat) — Braxton Ashcraft struck out nine over seven innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium III. Ashcraft (3-2) allowed one run on four hits and two walks. He retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced.

Brandon Lowe hit a solo home run in the first inning, and Henry Davis added a solo shot in the seventh. Marcell Ozuna drove in two runs with a sixth-inning single. Konnor Griffin scored twice and stole a base, extending his hitting streak to eight games. He went 6 for 13 in the series.

Ivan Herrera homered for the Cardinals in the third, and Jordan Walker had an RBI single in the eighth. Dustin May (3-5) took the loss, allowing four runs over 5 1/3 innings. The Pirates improved to 26-24, while the Cardinals fell to 28-21. Attendance was 27,705, and the game lasted 2 hours, 32 minutes.