Pittsburgh 2, St. Louis 0

Pirates 2, Cardinals 0: A.J. Burnett made his first Pirates start a memorable one, throwing seven shutout innings as host Pittsburgh blanked the Cardinals.

Burnett, acquired in an off-season deal from the Yankees, was a surprise starter. He cut short his rehab assignment after recovering from a right orbital fracture he suffered during spring training.

Once considered a possible free-agent target by St. Louis, Burnett improved to 5-3 lifetime against the Cardinals by allowing three hits and striking out seven.

Andrew McCutchen led off the fourth with a single and came around to score on Pedro Alvarez’s infield hit. In the sixth, Alvarez grounded a single into right to score McCutchen again.

Jake Westbrook (2-1) was the hard-luck loser, allowing two runs over 6 2/3 innings.

St. Louis threatened in the eighth, putting runners on second and third with one out. But Tony Watson fanned super-sub Matt Carpenter, and Jason Grilli struck out Matt Holliday on a vicious breaking ball. Joel Hanrahan worked around two walks to earn his second save

GAME NOTEBOOK: Despite the win, the Pirates’ 29 runs scored this season are by far the fewest in MLB. … Westbrook fell to 0-4 against the Pirates. … With Jon Jay and Skip Schumaker sidelined with injuries, Shane Robinson played center for the Cardinals and went 1-for-4 with an error.

• Pittsburgh will play their next game at home against St. Louis. The Pirates have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .444 after a loss.
• St. Louis will play their next game on the road against Pittsburgh. The Cardinals have a W/L % of .600 after a win and .800 after a loss.