Vince Velasquez and three relievers combined on a six-hitter as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates blanked the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 Thursday.

Velasquez (1-2) pitched six shutout innings while allowing just three hits and two walks. He struck out six batters.

Duane Underwood Jr. retired the Cardinals in order in the seventh inning, Colin Holderman worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and Dauri Moreta closed out the ninth.

Connor Joe and Rodolfo Castro hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning to pace the Pirates offense.

Cardinals starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery (2-1) allowed two runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two.

St. Louis rookie outfielder Jordan Walker saw his 12-game, career-opening hitting streak come to an end.

The Cardinals threatened in the fourth inning after Willson Contreras and Nolan Gorman drew two-out walks. They executed a double steal, then Tyler O'Neill hit a long fly ball to left-center field.

But Pirates center fielder Ji Hwan Bae robbed O'Neill of a two-run double with a leaping catch while crashing into the wall.

Pittsburgh broke the scoreless tie in the sixth inning. Andrew McCutchen and Carlos Santana opened the inning with doubles down the third base line to put the Pirates up 1-0.

That snapped Montgomery's string of 15 consecutive scoreless innings.

Santana moved to third base on a groundout, but first baseman Paul Goldschmidt threw him out trying to score on Joe's grounder.

Montgomery exited the game after allowing one-out singles to Bae and Jason Delay in the seventh inning. Reliever Jordan Hicks walked Ke'Bryan Hayes to load the bases.

McCutchen hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, then Hicks walked Santana to reload the bases. But Genesis Cabrera relieved Hicks and struck out Ji Man Choi to end the threat.

Joe and Castro hit solo homers off Cabrera in the eighth inning to double Pittsburgh's lead to 4-0.

Hayes hit a leadoff double in the ninth and eventually scored on a passed ball to make it 5-0.

--Field Level Media