Miguel Andújar had three hits, Diego Castillo added two and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the playoff-bound St. Louis Cardinals 5-3 on Wednesday in the regular season finale.
Tommy Edman had three of St. Louis’ eight hits. Matthew Liberatore (2-2), recalled from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day, took the loss after allowing five runs in five innings.
The Cardinals gave Albert Pujols the day off to rest up for the playoffs. Pujols finished his 22-year career with 703 home runs (fourth all-time), 2,218 RBI (second all-time), 6,211 total bases (second all-time) and 3,384 hits (10th-all-time).
St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina, who like Pujols is retiring, lined out to second as a pinch hitter in the seventh in his 2,224th and final regular season game.
The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead in the third on Edman’s RBI-double but the Pirates jumped ahead with a four-run fourth
The Cardinals begin the playoffs Friday afternoon hosting Philadelphia in a best of three wildcard matchup. 12:00 noon with the pregame and the first pitch at 1:05 on KIRX.