The Pittsburgh Pirates got a home run from Spencer Horwitz as they emphatically snapped their four-game losing streak with a 7-0 win over the host St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night.

Carmen Mlodzinski (3-3) threw five scoreless innings for Pittsburgh, which outhit the Cardinals 15-5. Four relievers completed the shutout. Rookie Konnor Griffin led the way for the Pirates offensively with a 4-for-5 night and three runs scored.

There was also a milestone moment for Pirates center fielder Jhostynxon Garcia, who recorded his first career RBI in the win. Garcia was making only his second start for Pittsburgh after being called up on Tuesday.

JJ Wetherholt went 2-for-4 at the top of the St. Louis order and Victor Scott II hit a double.

Mlodzinski worked around a single and a walk to strand two on base in the first inning. The Pirates struck first in the top of the second with Horwitz’s fourth home run of the season.

Pittsburgh mounted a two-out rally in the fourth to extend its lead. After Griffin reached on his first of two infield singles and Endy Rodriguez walked, Garcia’s RBI single doubled the Pirates’ advantage.

Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy (3-3) was chased after loading the bases without recording an out on three consecutive singles in the sixth. Justin Bruihl came on in relief and got out of the jam, but not without allowing Pittsburgh to add on with Nick Gonzales’ sacrifice fly.

McGreevy finished with three runs allowed in five-plus innings. The right-hander struggled to miss bats, allowing 10 hits and striking out only one hitter.

St. Louis also loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but Yohan Ramirez struck out Masyn Winn, and Jake Mangum made a sliding grab at the wall in right to rob Cesar Prieto of extra bases and keep the shutout intact.

The result was put beyond doubt when Pittsburgh put up four runs off Matt Svanson in the eighth. Mangum and Gonzales hit RBI singles before Bryan Reynolds blew open the inning with a two-run double.

–Field Level Media

DENVER — Dylan Coghlan and Pavel Dorofeyev scored 2:33 apart in the second period, Carter Hart made 36 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Wednesday.

Brett Howton also had a goal and Nic Dowd scored into an empty net for Vegas, which grabbed home-ice advantage from the Presidents’ Trophy winners.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Friday night in Denver.

Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog scored while Scott Wedgewood turned away 24 shots for Colorado, which trails in a series for the first time in this postseason.

Vegas captain Mark Stone (lower-body injury) and Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (upper body) were scratched.

Both teams had chances in a scoreless first period. Keegan Kolesar nearly gave the Golden Knights the lead on a partial breakaway early on. Logan O’Connor hit the post for the Avalanche, and Hart made a save on Nazem Kadri in the waning seconds of the period.

Vegas finally broke through at 12:29 of the second period. Brandon Saad sent a pass to Coghlan in the slot, and Coghlan’s wrister beat Wedgewood through the pads for his first goal of the postseason.

Colorado’s Ross Colton took a roughing penalty less than two minutes later, and the Golden Knights took advantage. Mitch Marner stretched out with the puck and whipped a pass to Dorofeyev coming down the right side. Dorofeyev sent a one-timer to the short side past at 15:02, his 10th goal of the playoffs.

Vegas made it 3-0 early in the third after killing off a Colorado power play. Howden knocked down the rebound of Ben Hutton’s shot with his glove and tapped the puck by Wedgewood at 1:34.

The Avalanche answered at 5:53 when Nichushkin redirected Colton’s pass beyond Hart.

Wedgewood came off when Colorado went on the power play at 16:52, and Landeskog cut the deficit to one at 17:39.

The Avalanche pulled Wedgwood again, but Dowd sealed it into an empty net at 19:15.

–Field Level Media

LSU reached an agreement with Ed Orgeron on Wednesday to join Lane Kiffin’s current staff in Baton Rouge, reuniting the school with its former head football coach.

Orgeron, 64, will be serving as a special assistant to recruiting and defense, per the school’s social media.

The 2019 national championship-winning coach spent five seasons as the head man for LSU and was a popular figure as a Louisiana native who won 51 games and went 4-1 in bowl games.

Eventually, the wins stopped coming and Orgeron was run out following back-to-back .500 seasons in 2020 and 2021.

Before that, he guided the Tigers to one of their greatest seasons in history, helming a dominant team headlined by Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase to a 15-0 record and two dominant wins in the playoffs.

Kiffin, LSU’s new head coach, was Orgeron’s boss at previous stops at Tennessee (2009) and USC (2010-13). Orgeron ultimately succeeded Kiffin at USC, becoming the interim coach to close out the 2013 season. The two previously coached together as assistant coaches at USC from 2001-04.

Orgeron also preceded Kiffin as the head coach at Ole Miss, going 10-25 there from 2005-07.

Kiffin closed his Ole Miss tenure 55-19, with a playoff berth last season.

–Field Level Media