A late-inning comeback opportunity was squandered by a lackluster Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen en route to a 9-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt got the Cardinals (2-0) on the board with a solo homerun, his first of the season, in the bottom of the first inning.
Singles by Josh Bell and Colin Moran, followed by a Phillip Evans hit-by-pitch, gave the Pirates (0-2) a golden opportunity with no outs in the top of the second inning. However, a looking strikeout by Guillermo Heredia, a popout by Cole Tucker and a groundout by Kevin Newman limited the Pirates to one run on a bases loaded walk from John Ryan Murphy.
The Cardinals retook the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning via RBI singles from Dexter Fowler and Tyler O'Neill, giving them a 3-1 advantage.
The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the seventh, when a two-RBI single from Paul DeJong and a two-run double from Matt Carpenter put the game out of reach at 7-1. St. Louis padded on two additional runs, compliments of a Tommy Edman two-run triple, to close the scoring at 9-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Trevor Williams pitched 3.2 innings of work, allowing three earned runs while striking out three batters. Chris Stratton and Nik Turley each had scoreless outings, while Kyle Crick and Robbie Erlin surrendered six runs (two earned runs) in their two combined innings.
The Pirates and Cardinals will meet for the final game of their three-game series at Busch Stadium on Sunday, when Pittsburgh's Mitch Keller will face off against St. Louis' Dakota Hudson.
Comments