The Pittsburgh Pirates offense broke out for ten runs in todays 10-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Gregory Polanco and John Jaso gave the Pirates the insurance runs they needed as both hit home runs that put the Pirates ahead for good.
Gerrit Cole started the game and struggled early on as he allowed the Cardinals to load the bases in the first inning while throwing over 30 pitches. However, as the afternoon went on, Cole settled down and turned in what turned out to be a solid start going 6.0 innings giving up two runs on six hits while walking two and striking out seven.
Cole has not been his normal self so far this season struggling early on in starts, and hopefully today is the start of a turn around because if the Pirates are to be successful they need their ace to come through. One of Cole's problems this season has been the number of walks Cole has given up this year. Coming into today's game, Cole had allowed 10 walks in 27.1 innings pitched. Today, he took a step in the right direction today as he only walked two in his 6.0 innings of work.
Cardinals starter Michael Wacha was the opposite of Cole as he retired the first nine Pirates batters on the day, and only threw 16 pitches through the first three innings of work. However, as Wacha's afternoon went on, it got worse as he ended up throwing 6.0 innings giving up four runs on six hits while walking two and striking out six.
The St. Louis Cardinals drew first blood in this contest in the bottom of the third as after Matt Carpenter and Stephen Piscotty singled, Matt Holiday hit into a double play to give the Cardinals a runner at third with two outs. Then, Cole threw his first mistake pitch of the day as Brandon Moss hit an RBI double to right field to score Carpenter and give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
The Pirates offense got itself going in the top of inning number five after struggling mightily against Wacha through the first four innings. Things got started when Jordy Mercer drew a one out walk to give the Pirates a runner at first with one out. Then, Chris Stewart hit an RBI double to left field to score Mercer and tie the game at one. The Pirates would add two more in the inning as two batters later, John Jaso inched his third home run of the year over the right field wall to give the Pirates a 3-1 lead.
The offense would keep coming for the Pirates as the next inning Starling Marte hit a one out ground-rule double bringing up St. Louis native David Freese with one out in the sixth. Freese would proceed to hit an RBI single extending the Pirates lead to 4-1. The Pirates would eventually get runners at first and second with two outs, but Stewart popped out to end the inning and strand the runners.
The sixth inning started a back and forth between the Cardinals and Pirates for the next couple of innings. The Cardinals responded to the Pirates in the bottom of the sixth as Jeremy Hazlebaker hit his sixth home run of the year trimming the Pirates lead to 4-2. The back and forth would continued the next inning as both teams continued to score runs in bunches.
In the seventh, Matt Joyce walked followed by a Jaso double to give the Pirates second and third with nobody out. Then Andrew McCuthcen hit an RBI single to left field to score Joyce and give the Pirates a 5-2 lead. Then Gregory Polanco delivered what turned out to be the biggest hit of the day for the Pirates as he hit a three-run home run off of the foul pole putting the Pirates in front for good as they lead 8-2.
Kyle Lobstein, who is normally very reliable, came into pitch the seventh inning to relieve Cole. Lobstein struggled giving up three runs in just 0.2 innings of work. It all started when after one out Carpenter walked, Piscotty singled, and Holiday walked. Brandon Moss grounded into a force out that scored Carpenter and trimmed the lead to 8-3. Arquimedes Caminero came into the game trying to get the final out of the inning, but allowed Yadier Molina to deliver an RBI single to right that scored both Piscotty and Moss to trim the lead to 8-5.
Neftali Feliz came in to get the final out of the inning as he got Hazlebaker to strike out to end the Cardinal threat. The Pirates had to use three different pitchers in the seventh inning to get the job done as the bullpen has been taxed and struggling lately. The Pirates need one of their five starters to step up and give them a long start to save the arms in the Pirates bullpen.
The Pirates would add two more insurance runs in the ninth inning. With two outs, the Pirates had Marte on second when Josh Harrison hit an RBI single to left field and advanced to second on the throw. Then Mercer was walked followed by a Stewart RBI single to cap the scoring and give the Pirates a 10-5 lead.
The Cardinals would not go down without a fight, however, as they managed to load the bases with one out and threatened to come back in the game. Manager Clint Hurdle then called on Mark Melancon to shut the door and he did just that getting Yadier Molina to ground in to a double play to seal the victory for the Pirates.
The Pirates start a three game series with the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow at Great American Ball Park. On the mound for the Reds will be right hander Dan Straitly (1-1 3.56) and the Pirates will oppose with left hander Jon Niese (3-1 5.94). First pitch for the start of this three game series is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment