Pirates in baseball: Alec Burleson delivers again as Cards top Pirates

by | May 7, 2025

It wasn’t another home run, but East Carolina baseball alum and St. Louis Cardinals star Alec Burleson delivered again Tuesday.

He drove in both runs against Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes in the Cardinals’ 2-1 win over the Pirates. That comes after he homered in the second game of a doubleheader with the Mets on Sunday and homered in Monday’s win over the Pirates.

Burleson doubled in the sixth inning down the left field line against Skenes to drive in Nolan Arenado (single) and Willson Contreras (walk) to give St. Louis the lead for good. Burleson is 6-for-15 against Skenes. No other MLB player has more than four hits against Skenes, who is in his second year in the majors and is regarded as one of the top pitchers in the league after winning the NL Rookie of the Year award last season.

He has a five-game hitting streak and is 5-for-19 (.263) with five RBI and three runs scored in his previous four games.

Jeff Hoffman

He had his first bat outing in a while in Tuesday’s 8-3 loss to the Angels.

He came on in the eighth inning as the Angels scored six times after trailing 3-2. He gave up three runs on three hits, one a three-run homer by Yoan Moncada, to blow the game open.

His ERA is now 2.70 after that outing.

Ryan McCrystal

He played a big role in Daytona’s 10-7 win over Tampa. He batted 2-for-4 as the DH with a run scored and RBI. He doubled for the third time this season, driving in a run, his ninth RBI of the season, in the third. He later scored to make it 7-3. He also singled in the fifth.

See below to find out what the rest of the Pirates in baseball did on Tuesday. 

Major League Baseball

  • Connor Norby, Miami Marlins: 1-for-3 with double, run, RBI and walk in 5-4 win over Dodgers in 10 innings. His double came in the sixth and tied the game at 3-3.
  • Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals: See above
  • Shawn Armstrong, Texas Rangers: Pitched 1.1 innings in 6-1 win over Red Sox. Came on in the seventh and struck out one to lower ERA to 2.93.
  • Gavin Williams, Cleveland Guardians: Did not pitch in doubleheader split to Nationals (10-9 loss, 9-1 win)
  • Jeff Hoffman, Toronto Blue Jays: See above
  • Zach Agnos, Colorado Rockies: Game with Rockies rained out. Will play doubleheader on Thursday.
  • Clayton McCullough, Miami Marlins (manager): Won 5-4 in 10 innings to improve to 14-21.

Triple-A

  • Carson Whisenhunt, Sacramento RiverCats (San Francisco Giants): Did not pitch in 4-2 loss to Tacoma

Double-A

  • Carter Spivey, Akron Rubber Ducks (Guardians): Columbus Clippers sent him back to Double-A. Did not pitch in 3-0 win over Somerset.
  • Trey Benton, Akron Rubber Ducks (Guardians): On season-ending disabled list

Single-A

  • Trey Yesavage, Dunedin Blue Jays (Blue Jays): Did not pitch in 13-12 loss to Fort Myers
  • Carter Cunningham, Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays): 0-for-3 in 9-2 loss to Spokane
  • Josh Moylan, Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees): Did not play in 4-3 loss to Wilmington
  • Josh Grosz, Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees): Did not pitch in 4-3 loss to Wilmington
  • Tyler Bradt, Peoria Chiefs (Cardinals): Did not pitch in 14-9 loss to Wisconsin
  • Jacob-Jenkins-Cowart, Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins): 0-for-4 with a walk in an 8-7 loss to Palm Beach
  • Ryan McCrystal, Daytona Tortugas (Reds): See above
  • Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, Modesto Nuts (Mariners): Placed on full-season disabled list on April 15.
  • Erik Ritchie, Clearwater Threshers (Phillies): Did not pitch in 6-1 loss to St. Lucie.

Frontier League

  • Danny Beal, Down East Bird Dawgs (Independent): Season begins on Friday

Photo credit: Alec Burleson (AP photo)

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