Trailing the St. Louis Cardinals in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Pittsburgh Pirates had the tying run on base and their hottest hitter at the plate. Nick Gonzales showed why he lives for such moments.
Gonzales sent Riley O’Brien’s belt-high slider 373 feet to the left-field corner at PNC Park, a distance that would have been a home run in 27 of 30 major-league ballparks.
But Cardinals left fielder Nathan Church leaped against the wall to make the catch, robbing Gonzales of a homer and the accompanying heroics to clinch a 5-4 victory and series win for the Cardinals on Wednesday night before an announced crowd of 9,297 at PNC Park.
“I don’t really have a homer this year, so it’s been a while since I hit one,” said Gonzales, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a leadoff single in the eighth. “I wasn’t really sure off the bat. I thought I got enough of it, but I guess not. It was exciting. I thought I had a chance to win the game right there. It sucks.”
NATHAN CHURCH ROBS A WOULD-BE WALK-OFF HOMER ????@CARDINALS WIN! pic.twitter.com/4cz5zHWJXm
— MLB (@MLB) April 30, 2026
It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Pirates, who loaded the bases in the seventh and eighth innings, when they scored three runs but stranded five runners. They went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 runners on base.
Bubba Chandler allowed three runs on three hits and four walks with six strikeouts in five innings but was outdueled by Andre Pallante. The Cardinals starter delivered a quality start with six strikeouts without a walk and allowed one run on five hits over six innings.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, when Ramon Urias drew a full-count walk to start the third inning, advanced to second on a fly out to left by Victor Scott II and scored when Mars and West Virginia alum JJ Wetherholt lined a double to left.
With two outs in the fifth, Ivan Herrera doubled to left field. Alec Burleson bashed Chandler’s 1-1 slider 411 feet to left-center for his fourth homer to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
“Potential for a really good outing turned into just a mediocre one with one pitch,” Chandler said. “That one pitch was a poorly thrown baseball. Wish I could have that pitch back.”
Spencer Horwitz answered by launching Pallante’s 1-0 slider 397 feet to the center-field seats for his third home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth and cut the Pirates’ deficit to 3-1. Konnor Griffin followed with a single to right, then stole second base but was stranded.
Lefty Evan Sisk hit Scott with a first-pitch curveball to start the seventh, then Scott stole second and third base. The Pirates brought in Chris Devenski, a 35-year-old right-hander whose contract was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis, and Scott scored on Herrera’s sharp grounder up the middle. Herrera scored from second on Jordan Walker’s grounder to left, giving the Cardinals a 5-1 lead.
Ryne Stanek relieved Pallante for the seventh, only to walk Griffin, give up a single to Joey Bart and walk Oneil Cruz to load the bases with one out. When the Cardinals brought in lefty JoJo Romero, the Pirates had Nick Yorke pinch-hit for Brandon Lowe and he delivered with a two-run single to center to cut their deficit to 5-3. Bryan Reynolds drew a walk to load the bases again, but the runners were stranded when Ryan O’Hearn struck out and Marcell Ozuna grounded out to third to end the inning.
In his first appearance since allowing four runs in the ninth inning in Monday’s 4-2 loss, Dennis Santana retired the side in order in the eighth. Nick Gonzales stretched his hit streak to 10 games with a single off the third base bag, and Horwitz drew a four-pitch walk off George Soriano.
Jake Mangum pinch-hit for Bart and knocked a sharp grounder to shortstop, where it bounced off the chest of Gold Glover Masyn Winn. Mangum beat Winn’s throw to first, loading the bases with one out. Cruz grounded into a forceout at second but beat out the double play to allow Gonzales to score and cut it to 5-4.
Yohan Ramirez gave up a double to Wetherholt and intentionally walked Burleson but struck out Walker to strand both runners in the top of the ninth. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, O’Hearn hit a flare down the third-base line for a single. But Ozuna struck out, and Gonzales was robbed of a home run to end the game.
“Tough to capitalize,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “A lot of moments in that game, especially towards the end there and then the last swing by Nick — put a great swing on that. So close, and they made a good play.”
The Cardinals (17-13) could sweep with a victory Thursday afternoon when they face Cy Young winner Paul Skenes in the finale. The Pirates (16-15) slipped into last place in the National League Central.
“You’re talking about a matter of feet right there, and again, it’s been a tough series,” Kelly said. “We need to find a way to bounce back tomorrow. We’ve got Paul on the mound and need to find a way to get this one.”