PITTSBURGH — Nobody was happier to see the month of June come to an end than Nolan Gorman.
After taking a called third strike in his first at-bat on Tuesday night, one swing of the bat helped Gorman put that frustrating month behind him.
Gorman launched the Cardinals’ first grand slam of the season in the fourth inning to propel them to a win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh.
The homer was Gorman’s team-leading 17th of the season, but his first since June 19. Gorman came into the first game of July mired in a 4-of-61 slump over his last 18 games with one homer, four RBIs and 31 strikeouts.
That was part of a month that saw Gorman hit just .141 with 42 strikeouts in 99 at-bats.
The grand slam increased the Cardinals’ lead to 6-0 en route to raising their record to a season-high four games over .500 at 44-40.
Ryan Helsley got the final three outs to convert his 31st consecutive save and break the franchise record for most saves before the All-Star break.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: Alec Burleson gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead with a home run in the third, his 13th of the season, following a double by Masyn Winn … Brendan Donovan led off the fourth with his second of three hits on the night, Nolan Arenado reached on catcher’s interference and Matt Carpenter singled in front of Gorman to load the bases and set up the second grand slam of his career … The Cardinals added an insurance run in the seventh when Paul Goldschmidt hit his second double of the night and scored on another single by Donovan … The four doubles and two homers allowed the Cardinals to tie their season high of six extra base hits.
On the mound: Kyle Gibson struck out the side in both the second and fourth innings but then ran into trouble in the fifth, when he gave up two home runs that cut the Cardinals’ lead to 6-4. After allowing just one hit through the first four innings, Gibson allowed a three-run homer to Jack Suwinski and a solo shot to Andrew McCutchen … John King, Ryan Fernandez and JoJo Romero combined to record the next nine outs and get the ball to Helsley, who broke his tie with Lee Smith (1993) for the most saves in team history before the All-Star break.
Key stat: Seven of the Cardinals’ eight hits through the first four innings came with two strikes as they built the 6-0 lead. The only hit that did not come with two strikes was Carpenter’s single.
Worth noting: The last Cardinal to hit a grand slam in Pittsburgh was Goldschmidt in 2019 … Gorman also had a single in the sixth inning, giving him his first two-hit game since June 4, a span of 24 games … The last pitcher to convert more than 31 consecutive saves, all in the same season, was Mark Melancon of the Pirates, who converted 35 consecutive saves in 2015 … It was announced on Tuesday that Cardinals’ pitching prospects Tink Hence and Quinn Mathews will represent the organization in the Futures Game, part of the All-Star game festivities. Hence was also on the NL squad last season.
Looking ahead: Miles Mikolas will get the start on Wednesday night in the second game of the three-game series.
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