St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Michael Wacha lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning on Sunday while pitching his team to a 5-0 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pinch-hitter Colin Moran broke up the no-hitter when he led off the Pirates ninth by hitting a single to right on an 0-2 pitch. Wacha, up to 111 pitches, left for reliever Jordan Hicks, who preserved the shutout.
Marcell Ozuna hit a grand slam in the first for all the runs Wacha and the Cardinals needed, and they added another in the eighth. The 26-year-old Wacha (7-1) gave up the one hit, with eight strikeouts and two walks.
Wacha was bidding to throw the Cardinals’ first no-hitter since left-hander Bud Smith against the San Diego Padres on Sept. 3, 2001.
In September 2013, when he was a rookie, Wacha got within one out of a no-hitter before Ryan Zimmerman of Washington got a hit off of him. The last Cardinals pitcher to no-hit Pittsburgh was Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1971.
St. Louis won three of four in the series. The Pirates have lost 12 of 15. They went 3-7 in a stretch of 10 games against National League Central contenders, including 2-5 against St. Louis in that stretch.
Pirates rookie Nick Kingham (2-2) gave up four runs (three earned) in five innings, with five strikeouts and one walk.
Matt Carpenter led off the first with a walk, and Tommy Pham singled. Shortstop Sean Rodriguez bobbled what could have been a double-play grounder by Jose Martinez, and the error loaded the bases. Ozuna sent Kingham’s first pitch 425 feet to left for his fourth career grand slam. It was his fifth homer of the season. Pittsburgh got its first baserunner in the fifth when Francisco Cervelli drew a one-out walk. An out later, Gregory Polanco also walked, but Rodriguez’s grounder ended the inning. After eight innings, Wacha was at 107 pitches, but he wasn’t coming out with a no-hitter going.
In the St. Louis eighth, Martinez hit a one-out double and Ozuna walked. An out later, Yairo Munoz singled to bring home Martinez and make it 5-0.

Culberson’s walkoff homer lifts Braves past Nationals
Atlanta’s Charlie Culberson has two home runs this season, both of them for walk-off victories. Culberson delivered his second game-winning shot on Sunday with a pinch-hit homer with one out in the ninth inning to give the Braves a 4-2 victory over the Washington Nationals at SunTrust Park.
Culberson connected against reliever Tanner Roark (2-6), who was the starting and losing pitcher in the first game of the series on Thursday night.
Culberson’s homer scored Dansby Swanson, who reached second on a hustle double by sliding past the tag of Wilmer Difo. Swanson was originally called out, but the verdict was reversed on video review.
The Braves won three of four games in the series and retained first place in the National League East. Atlanta is 6-4 against the Nationals. The winning pitcher was Arodys Vizcaino (2-2), who pitched around a hit and a walk to work a scoreless ninth.
Atlanta starter Anibal Sanchez threw seven innings and allowed two runs, both unearned, on two hits and one walk. He struck out five. The Braves scored in the first inning after an injury to Washington starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson. Ozzie Albies hit a grounder to first baseman Mark Reynolds, who fielded the ball and made a high throw to Hellickson covering the bag. He had to stretch to try to catch the ball, which sailed over his head, and the pitcher crumpled to the ground holding his right hamstring.
Albies wound up on second base and scored on a two-out hit from Nick Markakis off Jefry Rodriguez, who made his major league debut and threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
The Nationals took the lead in the third. Difo singled and scored when Trea Turner hit a two-run homer to left-center, his seventh, to put Washington ahead 2-1.
The Braves tied the game 2-2 in the seventh when Swanson hit a long solo homer to left, his fifth. The homer off Shawn Kelly snapped a string of 12 2/3 scoreless innings of work by the Washington bullpen.