ST. LOUIS -- The story about a man named Jedd, a Mountaineer keeping the St. Louis Cardinals alive in the National League wild-card picture, keeps growing.

Second baseman Jedd Gyorko's 30th homer of the year with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday snapped a tie and lifted St. Louis to a dramatic 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium.

Three pitches after taking a 2-2 curve that could have been called strike three by Alfonso Marquez, Gyorko lined a 100 mph fastball from Felipe Rivero (1-6) 362 feet into the seats in right. That blast made him the first Cardinal to reach 30 in a year since Carlos Beltran whacked 32 in 2012.

The West Virginia product said the hit was the biggest of his career.

"These are exciting games, no doubt about that," Gyorko said. "Being out there in a must-win situation is fun. We'd rather have a spot clinched already, but we still have a chance to make the playoffs. We just need to take care of business."

St. Louis (85-76) won its third straight game and remained a game behind San Francisco for the National League's second wild-card spot following the Giants' 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Cardinals did things the hard way in the year's penultimate game, digging a 3-0 hole five batters into the day on Jung Ho Kang's three-run blast off Michael Wacha. It was Kang's 21st homer of the year and his sixth against St. Louis.

That was it for Wacha, but the Cardinals' bullpen dug in its heels and kept Pittsburgh (78-82) at bay until the offense could figure out a way to score runs off rookie starter Chad Kuhl.

With former closer Trevor Rosenthal pitching in three scoreless innings, St. Louis was able to stay in touch. It tied a career-high longest outing for Rosenthal, who threw a career-high 52 pitches.

"I was glad to be out there competing and doing anything for the team," he said. "I was making good pitches. Coming into the game, we knew it was going to be all hands on deck, but I think the bullpen represented itself well."

The Cardinals finally cracked the code on Kuhl and two relievers in the sixth. Jhonny Peralta singled and Brandon Moss doubled to start the inning, knocking Kuhl out. One out later, Antonio Bastardo tossed a wild pitch on ball four to Randal Grichuk, scoring Peralta.

Juan Nicasio came in from the bullpen and was greeted by Matt Holliday's pinch-hit RBI single to right that moved Grichuk to third. Matt Carpenter's sacrifice fly to center let St. Louis equalize.

It was widely assumed after Friday night's 7-0 win that Holliday, who pinch-hit and homered in the seventh, was making a farewell appearance. The club said that it was unlikely that Holliday's team option for 2017 would be picked up after he was activated from the 15-day disabled list on Friday.

Manager Mike Matheny said he had a mid-game conversation with Holliday.

"I said, 'Hey, last night was special, do you think you could do it again?' And he went to the clubhouse and started getting ready," Matheny said. "He put a nice swing on the ball."

Two innings later, Gyorko supplied his 23rd homer since the All-Star break, a blast the Pirates contended shouldn't have occurred.

"I think it was right in the middle, the corner maybe," Rivero said of the 2-2 pitch that was called ball three. "That's something you can't control. You've got to focus and keep calling strikes."

Kevin Siegrist (6-3) earned the win and Seung Hwan Oh picked up his 19th save, although Pittsburgh made him and the crowd of 43,328 sweat a bit. Two-out singles by Alen Hanson and Jacob Stallings put the potential go-ahead runs aboard for Pedro Florimon, but he flied out to left on a 3-2 pitch.

Kuhl was charged with two runs on eight innings in five-plus innings, walking one and fanning five.

NOTES: Matt Holliday's pinch-hit homer in the seventh inning Friday night gave St. Louis six players with 20 or more homers this year, tying a National League record held by the Braves of 1965 and 2003, and this year's Nationals. ... Pittsburgh CF Andrew McCutchen didn't start Saturday after making his 150th start of the year Friday night, the sixth time in seven years he's done that. ... The Cardinals notched their 42nd come-from-behind win.