Goldschmidt, Donovan homer and Cardinals beat Pirates 4-3

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Paul Goldschmidt and Brendan Donovan homered, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 on Thursday.

Donovan's homer to lead off the sixth snapped a 3-all tie and extended his hitting streak to eight games as the Cardinals won back-to-back games for first time since May 29.

Lance Lynn went 4 1/3 innings, snapping a string of four straight quality starts by Cardinals pitchers. Lynn allowed three runs on four hits, walked three and struck out five.

Lynn's fifth strikeout of Ke'Bryan Hayes in the fifth, his final out of the outing, was his 987th as a Cardinal, moving him past Matt Morris for sixth all-time in franchise history.

Chris Roycroft (1-0) earned his first major league decision as five different Cardinals relievers combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Andrew Kittredge earned his first save.

Mitch Keller (8-4) allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings. Keller struck out four and walked none as the Pirates lost for the third time in their last four games.

It was the 45th straight outing of at least five innings for Keller, moving him into a tie with Ed Doheny (1903) for the fourth longest such streak in Pirates history.

Goldschmidt's two-run homer gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead in the third inning. It was Goldschmidt's first extra base hit since June 3.

José Fermín got a two-out rally going in the fourth with his first major league triple before scoring on a single by Pedro Pagés to make it 3-0.

Bryan Reynolds' bases loaded infield single scored Jack Suwinski and knocked Lynn out of the game in the fifth. Oneil Cruz greeted reliver John King with a two-run single to tie the game at 3-all.

TRANSACTIONS

The Pirates activated RHP Dennis Santana and optioned RHP Ryder Ryan to Triple-A Indianapolis. Santana was claimed off waivers on Tuesday from the Yankees, where he had a 6.26 ERA in 27 1/3 innings.

TRAINERS ROOM

Pirates: INF Alika Williams (right wrist sprain) began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis.

Cardinals: RHP Giovanny Gallegos (right should impingement) will pitch on Friday at Double-A Springfield, RHP Riley O'Brien (right forearm flexor strain) will pitch on Saturday at Springfield and LHP Steven Matz (lower back strain) will pitch Sunday at Springfield.

UP NEXT

Pirates: Pittsburgh has not officially named a starter for the opener of a three-game series at Colorado on Friday night. The Pirates took two of three earlier this season against the Rockies, who will start RHP Ryan Feltner (1-5, 5.74 ERA).

Cardinals: RHP Kyle Gibson (4-2, 3.76 ERA) will start the first of a three-game series against at the Chicago Cubs, who haven't officially announced a starter, on Friday. Gibson is 0-4 with a 6.84 ERA in four career starts against the Cubs, but he received three runs or less of support in all of those starts.

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