WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

05/21 15:48 CDT Lowe homers, Griffin extends hitting streak and Pirates beat Cardinals 6-2 Lowe homers, Griffin extends hitting streak and Pirates beat Cardinals 6-2 By WARREN MAYES Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) --- Brandon Lowe homered, Marcell Ozuna drove in two runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 on Thursday. Rookie Konnor Griffin extended his hitting streak to eight games with a double. He also scored a run and stole a base. Griffin went 6 for 13 in the series and improved to 13 for 33 during his streak. Braxton Ashcraft (3-2) struck out nine in seven innings. He gave up one run on four hits and two walks. The Pirates won their fourth consecutive road series against National League Central opponents. Ozuna, a former Cardinal, singled with one out to score Spencer Horwitz and Griffin, extending the lead to 4-1 in the sixth. Henry Davis hit a leadoff homer in the seventh and Bryan Reynolds drove in a run with a ground out, making it 6-1. Lowe, who also singled, hit a 3-2 fastball that bounced off the top of the wall just inside the left-field foul pole in the first inning. It was originally declared an inside-the-park home run before the stat was changed by the scorer. The Pirates went ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning. Griffin scored on a fielder's choice by Jake Mangum. A two-out home run by Ivn Herrera in the third inning tied the score at 1-1. Herrera also scored in the eighth on a single by Jordan Walker. Dustin May (3-5) pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out seven.

Up next The Pirates will start RHP Bubba Chandler (1-5, 5.14) Friday in Toronto against a starter to be named. The Cardinals will start RHP Kyle Leahy (5-3, 3.94) against Reds RHP Chris Paddack (0-5, 7.07) Friday in Cincinnati. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb