Cardinals aim to end road skid, face the Pirates

Updated Sep. 23, 2026 4:02 a.m. ET

Associated Press

St. Louis Cardinals (76-81, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (80-77, third in the NL Central)

Pittsburgh; Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Matthew Liberatore (5-14, 5.36 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 148 strikeouts); Pirates: Lake Bachar (1-4, 3.56 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 87 strikeouts)

LINE: Pirates -119, Cardinals -102; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The St. Louis Cardinals will aim to break their four-game road slide in a matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pittsburgh has an 80-77 record overall and a 43-36 record in home games. Pirates hitters are batting a collective .254, which ranks third in the NL.

St. Louis has gone 38-38 in road games and 76-81 overall. The Cardinals have the 10th-ranked team on-base percentage in the NL at .314.

Wednesday's game is the 12th time these teams square off this season. The Cardinals have a 6-5 advantage in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Nick Gonzales has a .302 batting average to lead the Pirates, and has 27 doubles, a triple and six home runs. Konnor Griffin is 14 for 44 with four RBIs over the last 10 games.

Alec Burleson has 37 doubles, a triple and 23 home runs while hitting .280 for the Cardinals. Leonardo Bernal is 13 for 41 with two doubles and two home runs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates: 6-4, .263 batting average, 4.70 ERA, outscored by five runs

Cardinals: 4-6, .214 batting average, 3.91 ERA, outscored by 13 runs

INJURIES: Pirates: Isaac Mattson: 15-Day IL (hip), Braxton Ashcraft: 15-Day IL (arm), Esmerlyn Valdez: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (hip), Mitch Keller: 60-Day IL (arm)

Cardinals: Everson Pereira: 10-Day IL (hand), Blaze Jordan: 10-Day IL (ankle), Joshua Baez: 10-Day IL (side), Max Rajcic: 60-Day IL (elbow), Hunter Dobbins: 15-Day IL (forearm)

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.