Pittsburgh did the damage early and let a big middle inning bury it, stacking up traffic before St. Louis's shorthanded lineup could mount much of a counterpunch. With 11 hits on the day, the Pirates put together the kind of sustained pressure Leahy's streak hadn't seen much of all season.
Pittsburgh's revamped bullpen — bolstered at the deadline by Camilo Doval, Luke Weaver and Kirby Yates — gave the Pirates options if the margin had tightened, though on this day it barely needed them. St. Louis, by contrast, never generated the kind of traffic that would've tested that depth.
The break came in the middle innings, when Pittsburgh strung together enough traffic to push 3 runs across in one frame. St. Louis's shorthanded lineup had no answer, and Bachar — shaky enough in his last outing to walk 3 batters in 2 innings — settled in behind a bullpen that didn't blink the rest of the way.
Leahy came in on a deliberately managed workload, the Cardinals having trimmed his innings through August to keep him fresh for the stretch run. Saturday was the version of him that hadn't shown up much all year, and it happened to arrive right as Pittsburgh's lineup got hot.
For Pittsburgh, it's proof the reloaded bullpen and a patchwork rotation can still steal an ugly one on the road. For St. Louis, it's a reminder of how thin the margin is with Jordan, Winn and Pereira all out at once — this group doesn't have much room for a bad afternoon.