<p>PITTSBURGH — Jack Flaherty pitched six solid innings to keep his record perfect and Paul DeJong hit a three-run homer in the first inning to send the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 12-5 on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Flaherty (5-0) struck out nine while winning his fifth straight start. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks and improved to 7-1 in 10 career starts against the Pirates.</p>
<p>DeJong’s drive off Trevor Cahill (1-3) capped a four-run first. The first run of the inning scored when Tommy Edman hit a leadoff double and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s one-out single.</p>
<p>St. Louis won for the seventh time in nine games. The Cardinals have also won six games in a row at Pittsburgh and 14 of their last 16 at PNC Park.</p>
<p>Edman, Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado each had three of the Cardinals’ 15 hits. Arenado drove in three runs with a two-run, bloop double in the seventh inning that put St. Louis ahead 7-3 and an RBI triple in a five-run ninth.</p>
<p>Rookie Justin Williams capped the ninth-inning outburst with a pinch-hit, two-run homer.</p>
<p>Colin Moran had three hits and two RBIs for Pittsburgh, which lost its third straight game.</p>
<p>Cahill lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks.</p>
<p>The Pirates closed to 5-3 in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Moran and Gregory Polanco. Flaherty then retired the next 10 batters.</p>
<p>The Pirates again got within two runs in the eighth at 7-5 when Bryan Reynolds doubled and scored on a single by Moran.</p>
<p>The Cardinals then put the game away with the five-run ninth against Sean Poppen.</p>
<p>IT’S ALL GOOD</p>
<p>Philadelphia star Bryce Harper contacted Cardinals LHP Genesis Cabrera via text message after being hit in the face by a pitch from the reliever Wednesday night.</p>
<p>Cabrera had sent Harper a note saying he was sorry and that the beaning was unintentional. Harper accepted the apology.</p>
<p>“In terms of that, him reaching out, that also made me feel really good, and as always I’m wishing him the best — a speedy recovery so he can get back to baseball activities,” Cabrera said through a team translator.</p>
<p>VACCINATION UPDATE</p>
<p>Pirates GM Ben Cherington said his team is “getting close” to the 85% vaccination rate of players, coaches and others with Tier 1 access required by MLB to allow a team to ease some COVID-19 protocols.</p>
<p>The Cardinals have already reached that threshold.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Cardinals: RHP Jordan Hicks left the game in the seventh inning with right arm tightness. He winced and flexed his arm after throwing what turned out to be his last pitch.</p>
<p>Pirates: 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes (left wrist strain) can throw and run but the rookie is not ready to begin swinging a bat.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>The Cardinals go for the three-game sweep Sunday with RHP Carlos Martinez (1-4, 4.76 ERA) facing Pirates RHP Wil Crowe (0-0, 3.86). Martinez beat Philadelphia on Tuesday for his first win as a starter since 2018. Crowe will be looking for his first win in his fifth career start.</p>
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