St. Louis Cardinals at Pittsburgh Pirates: Final Score & Recap

The Pittsburgh Pirates shut out the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 at PNC Park on September 22, 2026, holding St. Louis to just one hit across nine innings. The DiamondIQ model entered the night favoring Pittsburgh with a 57% home win probability, and that figure climbed steadily to 100% by game's end, a reflection of how thoroughly the Pirates controlled the contest from start to finish.

The decisive sequence began in the bottom of the sixth, when Ryan O'Hearn singled off Andre Pallante to swing win probability 13.2 points in Pittsburgh's favor, the single most impactful offensive play of the game. The Pirates extended their advantage in the seventh, as Bryan Reynolds stole second base off Cade Winquest, a 9.9-point swing that effectively salted the game away. Pittsburgh's best missed opportunity came in the fourth, when Ronny Simon grounded out against Pallante in a spot that would have pushed the lead further, costing the Pirates 8.4 points of win probability. St. Louis mounted a brief flicker of hope in the ninth when Masyn Winn drew a walk off Gregory Soto for a 6.6-point swing, but JJ Wetherholt followed with a strikeout that surrendered 5.8 points right back.

On the individual ledger, Jared Jones was the game's dominant force, leading all pitchers with a 34.6-point win-probability contribution. Pallante added 16.7 points on the St. Louis side despite surrendering the game's pivotal single, while Luke Weaver contributed 8.1 points out of the Pittsburgh bullpen. Among position players, O'Hearn finished with a combined WPA of plus-15.0 and an RE24 of plus-0.8, and Reynolds posted a plus-10.4 WPA alongside a plus-1.2 RE24, the highest run-expectancy figure among all batters. Spencer Horwitz rounded out Pittsburgh's offensive contributors with a plus-4.7 WPA and plus-0.6 RE24.