The Pittsburgh Pirates’ hot streak has been doused in the Midwest at the hand of a division rival.
For the third straight night, the Pirates have fallen victim to the St. Louis Cardinals, this time to the tune of 5-2.
The Cards (50-42) struck early, plating two runs in the first inning after the Pirates were sat down in order in the opening frame.
With two on and one out, Matt Adams drove in two runs despite being thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. The play, made by the reigning National League MVP, would be challenged and ultimately upheld. Nonetheless, St. Louis took a 2-0 lead early.
Pittsburgh (47-44) would get one run back in the next half-inning after Neil Walker sent a solo shot over the right field wall into the bullpen, drawing the nickname of Neil “Sky”-Walker from the in-game announcers, due to the game being dubbed Star Wars night at Busch Stadium.
The force, however, was not strong with Pittsburgh starting pitcher Brandon Cumpton.
Cumpton (3-3), who pitched just 3.1 innings, struggled all night with mixing his pitches, allowing the Cardinals to tag him for four runs in his short time on the mound.
Trailing, 3-2, heading into the bottom half of the fourth inning, the wheels fell off for Cumpton, who picked up the loss for the Pirates.
After Kolten Wong lined out, Cumpton walked opposing pitcher Lance Lynn, starting his downfall for the inning. Following the walk, Matt Carpenter reached first on a bunt single which Oscar Taveras followed up with an infield single, loading the bases for the Red Birds and Matt Holiday. Holiday singled in a run and as Lynn crossed the plate for the Cardinals, Cumpton was all but headed for the dugout with his team trailing, 4-2.
Ernesto Frieri, though, would get out of the inning with two pitches.
Pittsburgh would threaten in the 7th inning when Ike Davis doubled and Chris Stewart reached on a bunt single. But a double play would quickly put a damper on any hope the Pirates had off getting a run across in the half-inning.
Wong would add a solo home run for the Cardinals in the bottom half of the inning, making it 5-2 and that would be too much for the Pirates as they wouldn’t be able to muster up a comeback despite putting a runner in scoring position in the top of the ninth and Russel Martin’s deep fly ball to the wall to end the game.
Walker led the way offensively, going 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Pirates while Adams went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for the Cardinals.
The two teams will finish the series Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
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