PITTSBURGH -- It’s getting to the point that Nathan Church is probably considered a pest in Pittsburgh. During the Cardinals’ trip to PNC Park in April, the rookie outfielder memorably stole what would have been a game-winning home run from Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales, and turned it into a walk-off defensive robbery.
Flash forward to Tuesday, Church broke up Jared Jones’ bid for a perfect game with one out in the sixth, blooping a double just out of the reach of a sprawling Jacob Gonzalez down the third-base line.
Offensively, that moment was the only one the Cardinals could muster against Jones in their 2-0 loss to the Pirates.
With the Pirates chasing down their first .500 season since 2018, Jones brought them one step closer to the goal by neutralizing the Cardinals lineup for seven innings.
That’s the shame of it. If Jones was nearly perfect, Andre Pallante deserved, at least, a designation for having been great. In the first crisp autumn air the Cardinals have experienced this season, Pallante logged six innings of one-run baseball, holding the Pirates to just three hits.
Pallante navigated several spots Tuesday that might have, in another year of his career, devolved the outing into a forgettable performance.
Pallante didn’t allow his first hit until Spencer Horwitz doubled in the bottom of the third. Pallante stranded him when he earned one of just two strikeouts on the night, catching Konnor Griffin looking to end the inning.
In the fourth, Pallante loaded the bases despite not allowing a hit. A walk,catcher’s interference and a unique fielder’s choice helped to fill the bases with Buccos, but Pallante induced a groundout from Ronny Simon to escape the most dangerous spot of the game.
Griffin then tripled in the fifth, but Pallante stranded him, too, retiring Brandon Lowe on an inning-ending groundout to third.
The inning where the Pirates finally got to Pallante, the sixth, wasn’t even noteworthy. He got beat by a one-out walk and two ground balls. One moved the runner up, another found a hole off Ryan O’Hearn’s bat to score the run.
From a process standpoint, the inning didn’t register as a takeaway from Pallante’s night, which was centered around his ability to eliminate the prospect of damage in the precarious spots where damage might have found him in the past.
“He’s done that all year,” Marmol said. “He really has. And that’s growth.”
Marmol described the skill that is involved in limiting damage, but also spoke to the importance of the mental side for Pallante. That’s the area where the 28-year-old starter feels he’s made the most strides this year, channeling his work with his mental coach, essentially retraining how to think in situations.
“It’s, ‘How do I think when I want to execute a two-strike pitch?’” Pallante said. “Because if you don’t have a consistent thought process, you’ll never get consistent results. So, what do I need to tell myself to give my body the best chance of executing?”
With Tuesday’s gem, Pallante trimmed his ERA to 3.61 and is now just one scheduled start from completing a substantial turnaround compared to how things went for him in 2025.
“Don't try to speak in absolutes or be definitive too soon because you end up looking pretty dumb a lot of times,” Marmol said, referencing Pallante’s turnaround and the organization’s faith over a journey of progress that, like many in this league, hasn’t always been linear.
Pallante’s role in the rotation this season wasn’t assumed following a trying 2025 campaign that saw his ERA balloon to 5.31. Pallante came into 2026 with a purpose that Marmol noticed in his very first live batting practice session of Spring Training -- but the confidence didn’t truly solidify for Pallante until the results began to snowball in his favor.
“I wasn’t terribly confident to begin the year,” Pallante said. “I didn’t know how the year was gonna go. Last time I was on the mound, I felt like every time I pitched, I was going to give up a hundred runs.”
But little by little, Pallante stacked productive outings as his process paid off into consistent results.
Now, he’s a week away from an offseason in which he’ll be eager to pursue further gains.
“I feel like there’s so many aspects of my game that I can still improve,” Pallante said. “So many supplemental aspects. And I think If I just continue to make those growths toward those things -- I don’t know how good of a pitcher I could be, but I’d like to find out.”