Jared Hughes allowed three Cardinal runs in the seventh inning propelling them to a 3-2 victory over the Pirates on Monday night at PNC.
The uncharacteristic inning by Hughes erased a strong outing by Francisco Liriano, who pitched six scoreless before being removed after one batter in the seventh with the Pirates (67-64) leading 1-0 on a Pedro Alvarez home run in the second.
Liriano held a no-hitter through 4 2/3 innings before a Jhonny Peralta single snapped the bid. Liriano threw up another easy frame in the fifth before experiencing his first major trouble in the sixth.
With one out, Matt Holiday doubled to left-center. Liriano then walked the next two batters to load the bases for Oscar Taveras. Taveras was overaggressive in his at bat and grounded a 1-0 fastball into a inning-ending 5-2-3 double play to keep the Pirates ahead.
“I tried to get the pitch down and away, get a double play,” said Liriano. “Got it down and away, I was trying to not do too much with it.”
Liriano pitched to one batter in the seventh — a Kolten Wong infield single — before manager Clint Hurdle went to Hughes, who has been solid with inherited runners this season.
Hughes picked off Wong at first, but then got into his own trouble as he experienced location problems with his slider allowing a single to Tony Cruz. After a sacrifice bunt moved Cruz to second and a walk to Matt Carpenter, the Cardinals (71-59) recorded back-to-back RBI hits. Jon Jay tied the game with a pinch-hit RBI single and moved to second on a costly Andrew McCutchen throwing error and Matt Holiday followed with a 2 RBI single to left to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead.
“I still have confidence in that pitch and I have confidence in our team and if I continue to pitch that sinker down in the zone it will be hit to people and it’ll be a different outcome tomorrow,” said Hughes.
The Pirates tried to answer in the ninth off of Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal. McCutchen took the first pitch of the inning into the left field seats to cut the deficit to 3-2. The Pirates then put the tying run on base when Russell Martin walked with one out. Pedro Alvarez moved him to second on a groundout to the pitcher, but Starling Marte followed with a fly out to center to end the game.
Hurdle believes this one was a game that was simply taken away from them after too many missed offensive opportunities.
“A sharp ground ball turned into a double play in the first, a hardball to left with two guys on,” said Hurdle. “We hit into a couple of double plays later. It was a well-pitched ballgame. Both guys were sharp.”
Final Score: Cardinals 3, Pirates 2.
Starters Lines
Liriano (ND): 6 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 8 K’s, 91 Pitches (55 Strikes).
Lackey (13-8): 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s, 1 HR. 91 Pitches (68 Strikes).
The Pirates will look to even the series tomorrow night.
Tomorrow’s Starters
(RHP) Gerrit Cole (PIT): 7-4, 3.69 ERA
(RHP) Lance Lynn (STL): 14-8, 2.78 ERA
First pitch is set for 7:05.
Follow @TBerardi_OVA
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
