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A tense game delayed 71 minutes by a downpour turned into a wash for Fedde and the Cardinals when the Bucs poured six runs on the right-hander in the fifth inning and sailed away with a 7-0 victory Monday night at PNC Park. Fedde (3-8) lost his fifth consecutive decision and the Cardinals’ three-game winning streak ran aground along the Allegheny River.

Pittsburgh starter Andrew Heaney, a lefty doing what lefties do recently against the Cardinals, faced the minimum through five innings and took a no-hitter two outs into the sixth. Heaney (4-7) held the Cardinals scoreless through his 6 2/3 innings. Leadoff hitter Spencer Horwitz backed Heaney with a leadoff homer and two-run double in the messy fifth inning.

The Cardinals’ lineup was so quiet all evening that it failed to produce at at-bat with a runner in scoring position.

The series pitted two of the warmer teams coming out of the weekend. The Cardinals swept a series in Cleveland and shut out the Guardians twice during their visit. Meanwhile, a short drive away in Pittsburgh, the Pirates thumped the Mets. They outscored the visitors from Queens, 30 to 4, in a three-game sweep. The Cardinals swept a series by limiting the opponents’ runs (with one exception Saturday), and the Bucs did it by swamping the Mets.

One trend would continue.

After four innings of one-run game and a few innings of dueling zeroes from the starters, Pittsburgh pounced on Cardinals starter Fedde for six runs on seven hits in a single inning. Including an intentional walk that went awry, and eight of 10 batters that Fedde faced in the fifth reached base. It was the most runs allowed in a single inning for the Cardinals since (checks notes) Saturday, but it marked the second time in two starts Fedde has allowed seven runs.

Fedde is the first Cardinals starter to allow at least seven runs in consecutive starts since veteran Adam Wainwright tried to pitch through an angry shoulder to reach a 200th career in 2023. The previous two starters to do it were Lance Lynn and Carlos Martinez.

Fedde allowed seven runs on 10 hits through five innings.

He ERA has mushroomed from 3.54 to 4.56 in the span of 8 2/3 innings.

He’s not won a game in his past nine starts, and the Cardinals are 2-7 in those games.

Scott says no to no-no

Long before Pittsburgh began piling up the runs on Fedde, Heaney was stacking zeroes against the Cardinals’ lineup.

Leadoff hitter Brendan Donovan opened the game with a walk.

The next batter, Masyn Winn, sizzled a grounder – into a double play.

That was the start of 16 consecutive Cardinals retired by Heaney. With help from that double play, Heaney faced the minimum through 5 2/3 innings, and he took a no-hit bid that deep into the sixth inning. Every Cardinal had two looks at lefty and were unsuccessful in getting an out until No. 9 hitter Victor Scott II took his second at-bat.

He flipped a single to left to snap the no-hit bid.

Scott still stood at first when the inning ended.

The Cardinals would knock Heaney from the game in the seventh with a pair of singles, but not before the lefty got another double play to leave the Cardinals scoreless through his 6 2/3 innings. He held them to three hits, and with the outburst of runs had a shot at his first sine wince May 21.

Surviving the first

Two pitches into Fedde’s start Monday, and the Cardinals already trailed.

It would take a fluke to keep the first from becoming the worst.

Pirates leadoff hitter Horwitz drilled a 1-0 sinker for a solo homer. The home run was Horwitz’s second of the season and first for him to lead off a game. The Pirates’ previous four leadoff homers this season had all been hit by Oneil Cruz.

Fedde has allowed leadoff homers in consecutive starts.

In the span of the next three pitches from Fedde, the Pirates drilled a double to the left-field wall and then a single to right field. Include Horwitz’s homer and Pittsburgh had the chance to hit for the cycle to open up the game and do so in the span of five pitches. It didn’t happen – but it wasn’t for lack of exit velocity. Cleanup hitter Nick Gonzales stung a liner that found Fedde on the mound.

The Cardinals’ starter plucked the ball for the out and had plenty of time to turn to first to double-up Bryan Reynolds for the double play.

That gift allowed Fedde to slip free of the first.

He would roll through the next three innings.

There would be no such escape from the fifth.

Fifth craters on Fedde

The turning point in the inning may have been left fielder Brendan Donovan’s stride in on a ball that carried way, way back and over his head.

But Fedde did nothing to stymie the Bucs otherwise.

A leadoff single followed by a bunt single rolled into Horwitz’s fly ball to deep left field. Donovan, starting in left while Lars Nootbaar deals with a ribcage ailment, took a step in on the fly ball only to halt, turn, and race back on a ball that cleared his reach. That allowed two runs to score on Horwitz’s double, and it turned a bad inning worse.

After a smart play to get Horwitz out at third on a groundball, the hits just kept on coming against Fedde. Reynolds singled. Gonzales doubled. That left first base open, and the Cardinals made the call to intentionally walk Cruz so they could face Ke’Bryan Hayes. The .246 hitter had previously popped up on a 3-1 pitch and grounded out against Fedde. Given how the inning was going – naturally he singled to bring home two more runs.

Tommy Pham, a two-time Cardinal last with the club in 2024, capped the inning with an RBI single to left field.

Ten Pirates came to the plate before Fedde got the second out of the inning.

The 10th Pirate tumbled into a double play to give Fedde two outs and end his evening.