Another frustrating game. Started with Charlie Morton and Adam Wainwright on the mound. Andrew McCutchen had a two out triple in the first, but Garrett Jones couldn’t drive him in. Rafael Furcal had a leadoff double, and was bunted over to third. He scored on a groundout by Matt Holliday, who reached when Jones dropped the ball after making the catch. It looked like he dropped it on the transfer, but the umpire saw differently and called Holliday safe. Morton struck out the next two batters.
Rod Barajas led off the third with a double to center, just missing a home run. Two outs later, Jose Tabata hit a two run home run into the bullpen, his first of the year. With two outs in the fourth inning and Yadier Molina on third, Clint Barmes booted a Wainwright ground ball and Molina scored to tie the game at 2-2. The Cardinals broke it open in the fifth, with David Freese hitting a 3 run homer and Allen Craig driving in Molina to make it 6-2. Morton’s day was done after 4 1/3, and he was relived by Jared Hughes.
Matt Holliday tacked on another run with a solo shot in the sixth, 7-2 STL. The Bucs started to come back in the seventh though, with Pedro Alvarez launching his 6th homer of the year, making it 7-4. The Cards got 3 runs back in the bottom of the seventh. Molina scored on a throwing error by Barajas on the steal attempt, and Rafael Furcal hit a two run home run. The eighth inning brought back some hope for the Bucco faithful, with Tabata and Cutch drawing back to back two out walks. The fourth ball to Cutch was a wild pitch, so both runners moved up two bases. Garrett Jones singled both of them in, making it 10-6. Pedro tacked on another run, driving in Jones on a bloop single. With runners on the corners, Nate McLouth came out to pinch hit, and was the tying run. He grounded out sharply to first, ending the rally. Jason Motte closed it out in the ninth, giving up a hit to Yamaico Navarro. 10-7 Cardinals.
Other highlights:
- 4 errors.
- 4 errors.
- Oh yeah, the Pirates made 4 errors.
- 4 of the runs that the Pirates pitchers gave up were unearned.
- Tony Watson pitched 2/3 inning, giving up an unearned run, and Brad Lincoln pitched a scoreless inning.
Star of the Game: David Freese. Really the whole Cardinals offense was great, although they got some help from the Pirates defense. Freese’s 3 run homer really took the wind out of the sail for the Bucs, and they never recovered from there.
Goat of the Game: Pirates defense. Not that the pitching was great, but the poor defense didn’t help. 4 unearned runs isn’t acceptable, especially when the offense puts up 7.
Pirates (10-13) – Cardinals (15-8)
Win: Wainwright (1-3)
Loss: Morton (1-2)
Save: Motte (4)
Go Bucs
