The Pirates loaded the bases with no out and the tying run on third in the ninth, but weren’t able to convert as they fell to the Cardinals 6-5 on Sunday Night Baseball in front of 32,605 at PNC Park and a national TV audience looking on.
A costly error in the first proved to be the deal breaker as the Pirates (16-21) were unable to dig themselves out of an early hole.
They did try however, as they got to within one in the ninth off of Cardinals (19-19) closer Trevor Rosenthal after Neil Walker started the inning with a double and scored on an Andrew McCutchen (1-for-2 with 3 BB, RBI) RBI single. Pedro Alvarez followed with a single sending McCutchen to third and Clint Barmes came off the bench and walked to load the bases on four straight pitches.
Ike Davis poped the first pitch he saw up to first for the first out and Jordy Mercer nubbed a 2-1 fastball back to Rosenthal for the game-ending 1-2-3 double play. Had the ball not have been hit straight back to the pitcher, the tying run would have scored safely.
“It probably wasn’t my pitch to swing at,” said Mercer. “I think I got overaggressive a little bit, but anywhere but there really, but it happens and you just have to move on and get ready to play the Brewers.”
The game should have not gotten to that point as a costly error by Alvarez in the first allowed the Cardinals to plate four runs instead of a possible inning-ending double play or a one or two run inning.
With a runner at first and one out, Matt Holiday hit a soft chopper to Alvarez, who threw across his body to try to start the double play. His throw however, was offline and went into right field allowing the runners to reach safely. That was followed by four hits and a sac fly to make it a quick 4-0 Cardinal lead. Morton put the inning on himself allowing the four hits and a hit batter in the inning.
“I gave up quite a few hits there,” said Morton. “That can’t happen, maybe a run scores there, but I can’t let them score four right there.”
It would be the only damage against Pirates starter Charlie Morton as he threw up zeros over the next five innings.
“I started throwing the ball better,” said Morton. “We were chipping away and didn’t quite just get there.”
Mercer started the scoring for the Pirates with a two-run home run in the fourth to cut the Cardinal lead to 4-2. The Bucs made it 4-3 in the seventh when Alvarez knocked in pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez and 6-4 in the eighth when Tony Sanchez hit a RBI groundout scoring Davis.
It wasn’t the best way to end a solid homestand for the Pirates who took all three series for a 6-3 record over ten days, but manager Clint Hurdle was happy with the effort.
“Yeah, we gave it nine games of hard this homestand. We had to play a lot of games uphill. Everybody threw something in. It was a good homestand, a positive homestand. We fought to the end.”
Starters Lines
Morton (L, 0-5): 6 IN, 7 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K’s, 1 HBP. 100 Pitches (62 Strikes).
Miller (W, 5-2): 5 1/3 IN, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 2 K’s, 1 HBP, 1 HR. 96 Pitches (55 Strikes).
The Pirates have a travel day tomorrow before opening a three-game series in Milwaukee. It will be the first time the two teams have met since the Easter Sunday brawl.
Tuesday’s Starters
(RHP) Gerrit Cole (PIT): 3-2, 3.64 ERA
(RHP) Marco Estrada (MIL): 2-1, 3.53 ERA
First pitch is set for 8:10.
(Photo Credit: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
