Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over Pittsburgh 3-1 on Tuesday in a doubleheader opener that extended the Pirates' losing streak to eight.

Goldschmidt hit his 14th home run, a go-ahead, two-run drive in the third inning off JT Brubaker (0-7), and boosted the lead to 3-0 with an RBI grounder in the fourth. Goldschmidt is hitting .383 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs since May 12, raising his average to an NL-leading .338 with 51 RBIs, second in the NL to the New York Mets' Pete Alonso.

Yadier Molina had 11 putouts on 10 strikeouts and a foul popup, and with 14,870 passed Ivan Rodriguez (14,864) for most among catchers in major league history. The 39-year-old, a 10-time All-Star, was given a standing ovation with the record-setter when he caught Ke'Bryan Hayes' sixth-inning popup.

Pittsburgh had four errors, three by shortstop Diego Castillo - including bad throws on groundouts on consecutive pitches. He had just two errors coming in.

Matthew Liberatore (2-1) allowed three hits in five scoreless innings, striking out five and walking two in his fourth big league starts. The 22-year-old left-hander, pulled after 79 pitches, has pitched shutout ball in both his wins, the first against Milwaukee on May 28.

St. Louis won for the fourth time in five games. The Pirates are on their longest skid since eight straight from last Aug. 4-12.

Giovanny Gallegos pitched a one-hit ninth for his ninth save in 12 chances, finishing a seven-hitter.

St. Louis backed its pitchers with a pair of double plays and with 58 have the fourth-highest total in the major leagues.

Brubaker (0-7) remained winless in 13 starts this year. He gave up three runs - two earned - and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Yu Chang homered off Genesis Cabrera in the seventh.

Miles Mikolas didn't give up a hit until Cal Mitchell doubled with two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday night, and the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-1 to sweep a doubleheader.

Mitchell drove a 2-2 curveball over the head of Gold Glove center fielder Harrison Bader and just beyond his outstretched mitt as the speedy Bader tried to make a running catch with his back to home plate.

The ball bounced on the warning track 383 feet from the plate and over the wall in straightaway center for a ground-rule double.

The hit came on the 129th pitch from Mikolas - most in the majors this season and 14 more than his previous career high set May 29 against Milwaukee. He was lifted for Packy Naughton, who got the final out to hand the Pirates their ninth straight loss.

The 33-year-old Mikolas (5-4) bent over at the waist for a moment when Mitchell's drive dropped. He struck out six, walked one and left to a standing ovation.

Mitchell entered in the seventh to play right field and got Pittsburgh's lone hit in his only at-bat of the game.

The most recent no-hitter for the Cardinals was thrown by rookie Bud Smith in a 4-0 win at San Diego on Sept. 3, 2001. The last one at home came from Bob Forsch in 1983.

Pittsburgh got an unearned run in the fourth to make it 7-1 when Bryan Reynolds scored on Daniel Vogelbach's groundout.

Reynolds led off the inning and reached second base when left fielder Juan Yepez misplayed a fly ball for an error. Reynolds advanced to third on a groundout.

Cardinals second baseman Nolan Gorman made a diving stop in the fourth and an off-balance throw from the middle of the diamond in the sixth to prevent would-be hits.

Mikolas worked a 1-2-3 seventh with the help of a nice catch by Bader at the center-field fence on Jack Suwinski's drive. Pittsburgh also went down in order in the eighth.

Mikolas, who reinvented himself in Japan before becoming a big league All-Star in 2018, has struggled through injuries the past few seasons. He had never gone longer than four innings in a major league start without allowing a hit.

Paul Goldschmidt was 4 for 4 with two homers and five RBIs for the Cardinals, who have won five of six. Tommy Edman also went deep and Brendan Donovan had his first career four-hit game.

Bryse Wilson (0-4) gave up seven runs in five innings for the Pirates.

Jack Flaherty (right shoulder) will make his season debut in Wednesday night's series finale rather than make a third minor league rehabilitation start. He is expected to have a limit of about 60 pitches. RHP Roansy Contreras (1-1-, 2.57) pitches for Pittsburgh.