Grandal homers, Gonzales gets an RBI single in the 8th to push Pittsburgh past St. Louis 3-2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Yasmani Grandal homered, Nick Gonzales drove in the winning run with a single in the eighth inning, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.

Pirates starter Luis Ortiz allowed two runs on five hits and had seven strikeouts in six innings.

“My whole focus today was to get weak contact, and the strikeouts showed up,” Ortiz said via an interpreter. “That was not in my mind to strike people out, but making quality pitches, that’s what happened and we’re pretty happy.”

Carmen Mlodzinski (4-5) and Dennis Santana each tossed a scoreless inning, and Aroldis Chapman pitched the ninth to earn his 10th save in 15 chances. It was Chapman's 331st career save moving him past John Wetteland for the 16th most in major league history.

“He's had a heck of a career,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “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. He's very impressive.”

Cardinals starter Erick Fedde allowed one run on four hits and struck out three.

“There's still some room to improve on my movement," Fedde said. ”I felt like things were really late today just in the sense of kind of the swings I was getting. They seemed a little more defensive than they have been, and to that means my stuff's going to be late and a little harder to see. That's a great sign."

St. Louis (77-76) fell to eight games behind the New York Mets (85-68) in the National League wild-card race, and will be mathematically eliminated from postseason contention with either one more loss or a Mets win.

Gonzales singled up the middle off Ryan Fernandez who entered the game after JoJo Romero (7-3) walked pinch hitter Connor Joe with two outs in the top of the eighth.

“Someone told me about how DJ Lemahieu kind of takes every AB the same, how it's the most important AB no matter what the count, no matter what the situation,” Gonzales said. “I just try to do that the best that I can so every single at-bat I have kind of feels the same. Obviously, emotions get going, but I'm just trying my best to just make every single AB as important as the next and trying to lock in and not trying to do too much.”

Grandal hit his eighth home run of the season to right field in the seventh inning to tie the game 2-2.

Brendan Donovan hit an RBI single to left in the fourth inning to tie the game 1-1, then drove in another run with a double to the left-center field gap in the sixth inning to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. He now has a hit in all 18 home games he has played against Pittsburgh to start his career.

Gonzales lined a triple to right field that Jordan Walker had trouble corralling and scored on Bryan De La Cruz’s sacrifice fly to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning.

TRANSACTION

Pittsburgh purchased the contract of RHP Isaac Mattson from Triple-A Indianapolis. Mattson has not appeared in a major league game since pitching for Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2021, in Toronto. RHP Jake Woodford was designated for assignment.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Pirates: C Endy Rodríguez (right elbow surgery) batted third as the designated hitter for Indianapolis in a rehab appearance at St. Paul.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Mitch Keller (11-10, 3.87 ERA) is scheduled to face Reds RHP Nick Martinez (9-6, 3.37 ERA) in the opener of a three-game series in Cincinnati on Friday night.

Cardinals: RHP Kyle Gibson (8-7, 4.11 ERA) will oppose Guardians RHP Ben Lively (12-9, 3.87 ERA) in the opener of St. Louis’ final home series of the season on Friday night.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan runs on his RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Paul Goldschmidt, center, is congratulated by teammates after scoring during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan, foreground, looks toward the dugout after hitting an RBI double during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

St. Louis Cardinals' Brendan Donovan hits an RBI double during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Oneil Cruz sits on first base as he waits for a St. Louis Cardinals pitching change to be completed during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Connor Joe hits a single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Nick Gonzales hits an RBI single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Yasmani Grandal, left, is congratulated by third base coach Mike Rabelo, right, as he runs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point, we can only say for sure that the perpetrator was evidently Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter for further investigation and we have to wait.”

A German-based organization called Athiest Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not a part of the group and claimed that he made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.

“We distance ourselves from him in the strongest terms," the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 following “the most foul slander and verbal attacks."

An image taken from a video shows police officers arresting a suspect after car drove into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday Dec. 20, 2024. (TNN/DPA via AP)

A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)